Simon Goodwin will be "forever" Max Gawn's AFL coach and has been praised for his "extraordinary legacy" as Melbourne continue to search for who succeeds him.
Gawn convincingly won his third Keith "Bluey" Truscott Trophy as the Demons' best and fairest at Tuesday night's club function.
In his acceptance speech he heaped praise on Goodwin, who was sacked a month ago, noting all eight of his All-Australian selections had come when Goodwin was at Melbourne.
"He is going to be forever my coach," Gawn said. "Cheers Goody."
President Brad Green also acknowledged Goodwin at Tuesday night's function.
Goodwin was coach and Gawn was captain when the Demons broke their 57-year premiership drought in 2021. He is one of only four men to coach Melbourne to a flag.
Melbourne started interviews for their coach on Monday, with former Collingwood boss Nathan Buckley the frontrunner, and a decision could be made as early as preliminary final week.
The Demons want the new coach on board by the grand final.
"Simon leaves behind an extraordinary legacy - he is one of only four people to coach Melbourne to a premiership," Green said in his speech.
"Simon gave everything - not just as a coach, but as a person, and for that we are extremely grateful.
"We will find a fantastic person (as the new coach) who will drive this club forward and you should be extremely excited about this, and what we can achieve together. This decision is critical to our club's future
"This is a great club and I have no doubt that success isn't far away."
Goodwin did not attend the function.
Assistant coaches Mark Williams and Sam Radford, who have left the club, were also thanked at the function.
Gawn polled 592 votes to predictably dominate voting. It is the 33-year-old's first best and fairest as captain, after also winning in 2018 and 2019.
Christian Petracca was second on 479 and Kysiah Pickett took third with 467.
The Demons announced eight life members, among them current stars Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jake Melksham.
This time a year ago, Green confirmed at the best and fairest count that Oliver was staying, after the onballer went close to joining Geelong.
There was also intense speculation about Petracca's future.
Those two players are certain to feature again in trade talk.
Long-time administrator David Chippindall, who was interim chief executive until Paul Guerra joined the club this month, was another life member inductee.
Peter Marquis, Noel Clarke, Robert McKenzie and Geoff McGivern were all 1950s premiership players.
