Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has opened up on the sustained media attack he has suffered and the personal toll it has taken.
A former Demons president, with a direct line to News Corp, launched a vicious campaign against Goodwin, with allegations of inappropriate behaviour, drug use, gambling and cover-ups.
Goodwin has repeatedly denied the accusations, but his name has been dragged through the mud and the headlines have been, to the say the least, relentless.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
Goodwin was a gun player for the Adelaide Crows and became head coach of Melbourne for the 2017 season.
In 2021, he and his team broke a 57-year premiership drought for the Dees.
In April of that same year, Melbourne president Glen Bartlett exited the club and the fallout from that departure has been nothing but intense with Bartlett levelling various accusations at Goodwin and the AFL.
Goodwin has now told The Age that you get to a point where “enough is enough”.
“I love my job, I love my family and I love coming to work every day and I’m not going to let articles which are false and essentially relating to a board dispute affect that,” he said.
“I’m not going to disappear down a hole because I love this job too much and I love this life too much. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been easy.
“There have been times when it has been terrible. (My reputation) has taken a hammering. It’s been tough on me, but it’s been tougher on my parents and my children and my brothers.”
Things escalated again this year when Federal MP Andrew Wilkie brought up Goodwin’s name in Parliament.
Wilkie — protected by parliamentary privilege — rehashed many of Bartlett’s allegations, including a claim that AFL executives and others covered up Goodwin’s alleged cocaine use.
Wilkie also said Bartlett believed that AFL executives had “hid their concerns about the alleged drug use for 18 months”.
Wilikie’s claims followed last year’s crisis when Melbourne forward Joel Smith was provisionally suspended after he was notified of a positive cocaine test following the Demons’ Round 20 win over Hawthorn on August 20.
And then at the start of this year new charges were laid against Smith that included trafficking or attempted trafficking of cocaine.
The storm around Melbourne, and particularly Goodwin, swirled again, and more questions were raised when star midfielder Clayton Oliver had a questionable end to 2023 and a troubled off-season.
At the start of this year respected captain Max Gawn addressed the “turmoil”.
“I’d like to think I have a good grasp on our group and we’ve had an unbelievable summer, with the turmoil we’ve had over September and October,” Gawn said.
“I’m incredibly bullish we have the right culture.”
And superstar midfielder Christian Petracca has also previously spoken about the club’s culture and the drama.
“I think it is actually galvanising us, to be honest,” Petracca said.
“I have signed on for seven years … we wouldn’t be doing that if it was a bad culture.”