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AAP
AAP
Sport
Steve Larkin

Demons hail perfect grand final build-up

Melbourne players are primed for the club's first AFL grand final appearance since 2000. (AAP)

Coach Simon Goodwin is lauding Melbourne's perfect preparation for their AFL grand final battle against the Western Bulldogs.

The Demons enter Saturday night's decider in Perth as favourites as they seek to win the club's first premiership since 1964.

Melbourne have enjoyed two weekends off in the finals series, the first after their qualifying final win and then again after their preliminary final triumph.

"We have trained hard, we have done a lot of competitive work," Goodwin told reporters on Friday.

"We feel like our game is good shape and our players are ready.

"It has been about preparing their mindset for the challenge ahead.

"We all know what this game represents and the challenge it does represent and we feel like we're as prepared as best we can."

Goodwin has selected the same team that thrashed Geelong by 83 points in their grand final qualifier.

"It's certainly not lost on me, it's not lost on our playing group, the privilege that we have got to play in this game and the opportunity that it presents," he said.

"Then it comes down to, in the end, you have got to execute. And that is what a lot of our preparation has been about."

Goodwin entered the season with queries about his tenure after the Demons missed the finals in consecutive seasons after being beaten preliminary finalists in 2018.

But he said frank pre-season meetings with his players had laid out their blueprint to return to premiership reckoning.

"It has been a long time for this group of players to work through some adversity, some resilience," Goodwin said.

"They were really clear on what they wanted to stand for as a playing group before the season started, they were really clear on how they wanted to be seen and what they wanted to achieve.

"But we have still got a job to do."

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