Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has lauded his team’s character after they dispelled their doubters with a 29-point AFL elimination final win over Geelong.

The question asked of the Demons was a fair one given 18 of his Demons side were yet to play in September.

Did they have what it takes to win an AFL final?

The response came swiftly.

“Our players were adamant they were going to put their brand on show,” Goodwin said.

“A huge crowd. First final.

“We had our hunt on and our tackles and our pressure … that was a really good indicator our boys were ready to play.

“I thought our boys handled the moment incredibly well.”

By quarter time, Melbourne had the only five goals of the game and the contest was almost done.

The Demons had winners all across the park, led by Sam Weideman in just his 18th senior game.

James Harmes won his shootout with Joel Selwood.

Tom McDonald and Max Gawn were huge in the air, while Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw were super in the contest.

Goodwin lauded all his players but saved a special thank you to those in the outer.

The 91,767-strong crowd was the biggest non-grand final crowd Melbourne had played in front of since 1964.

“The support that we got tonight was absolutely unbelievable. They played a huge part,” Goodwin said.

“We said that they’d get in behind a team that they could believe in.

“And we need them again next week because they were pretty instrumental tonight … we want our supporters to believe in this team and inspire us to greater heights.”

Their next challenge is Hawthorn, which lost their final against premiership favourites Richmond on Thursday night.

Off the back of their dismissal of Geelong, the Demons will start short-priced favourites against Alastair Clarkson’s side.

That’s despite the Hawks handing them a 67-point touch-up in their sole meeting this year.

“They played an exceptional game of footy that day. They beat us quite convincingly,” Goodwin said of their round four meeting.

“We have to go back and look at that. Look at how they played on the weekend and come up with a system that’s going to hold up.

“We know we have got a really formidable opponent next week. A really strong footy club. Well coached. We know what we are up against.”