While Troy Chaplin has ruled himself out of the race for the permanent senior coaching position at Melbourne, he's eager to take the next three weeks in his stride.
The Demons provided their interim coach with a mighty effort against a rampant Bulldogs side, ultimately falling short by six points, but it didn't taint the moment for Chaplin, who relished the opportunity in the coach's box.
"I want to be a senior coach, I really enjoyed it," Chaplin said post-game.
"It's not too different, I mean you're sitting up there and you're always in conversations with your assistants in what we can change, you're just now the face of it.
"Every conversation you have with somebody, it could be their most important conversation of the day. That's really important to me. I've got to make sure that I keep giving to the rest of the group and we keep driving the club forward.
"I've had some amazing support this week, and I just really want to finish this next two weeks off. It gives me an opportunity to lead a program and sit at the driver's wheel. I really enjoyed it. We were so close."
Chaplin didn't reveal any intentions to leave Melbourne for a different senior coaching position in the near future, highlighting his connection with the current playing group and the hopes of remaining involved with Goodwin's successor. His desire for Melbourne to return to premiership glory - and belief that they can - is clear as day.
"If there's a budding senior coach out there that wants to have a chat, I'm more than happy to have a chat," Chaplin said.
"I think this group, if you take away the win-loss record, they're on the right path and there's a lot of good things happening.
"For all the adversity they've faced this year and in the last week, when you really step back and watch this group... they are very well connected. There's no fracturing. It could very easily go the other way.
"The way they've fronted up this week and the way they've performed, we just need to make sure we bottle that up and finish the last two games off."
Chaplin's club-first mentality appears to have made the transition from Goodwin a smooth one, as he embraces the current opportunity to "round out his CV".
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has emerged as the clear favourite for the Demons, while Brisbane football boss Danny Daly remains as an outside chance as a highly regarded 'coach-in-waiting'.
"I think any time a caretaker coach takes over, very rarely do they become that senior coach," Chaplin said.
"I just got on the front foot with the club and said I won't be pursuing it. It is a great opportunity for me to sit in the seat and drive the program for the next three weeks and get me a feel of what it actually takes. It also enables me to continue to round out my CV.
"I've got aspirations to be a senior coach one day, but what I do know is I love this club and I'm looking forward to working here for a long period of time. I've got relationships with not only the players but the staff. Pretty much since I finished football, I've worked at the Melbourne Football Club.
"There will be a time in the future where I'll have to look at what that looks like and try something different, but for the time being, I'm really enjoying my time here. The next two weeks after this week, I'll still get an opportunity to learn, grow, [and] understand what it takes to be a senior coach."
Melbourne's bid to finish their 2025 season in proud fashion will continue on Saturday as they look to knock off the in-form Hawks in a blockbuster Round 23 clash at the MCG.
