There’s one moment from Alex Neal-Bullen’s decade-long career at the Melbourne Football Club that typifies the type of person and player he is, according to former coach Simon Goodwin.

Goodwin knows Neal-Bullen better than most, having been an assistant at the Demons the year Neal-Bullen was drafted, before becoming the senior coach in 2017.

The friendship and strong working relationship between the pair grew during that time, and despite Neal-Bullen’s trade to Adelaide at the end of 2024, they have remained close.

Ahead of Neal-Bullen’s 200th game, which he will notch in the Crows’ qualifying final against Collingwood, the former Demons coach shared a special memory from the 2021 Grand Final to help explain the impact Neal-Bullen had on him and at the club.

“We had been on a journey together for a long time, since he got drafted,” Goodwin said.

“I remember in 2018 or 2019, we had a theme and I presented every player with a pair of ski goggles with a vision of when we win the premiership, we’d celebrate like American sports do in the locker room and spray the champagne.

“On Grand Final day in 2021, Alex was the only player who had packed his goggles to be part of that celebration. There’s an awesome photo of him celebrating with those goggles on.

“That just typifies the person he is - he remembers the important things, what it’s going to take and the symbolic moments that help bring success.”

The Demons drafted Neal-Bullen, a South Australian product, at the 2014 AFL Draft and Goodwin said the coaching staff and recruiters knew straight away they had selected a high quality person, as well as a talented footballer.

“Alex just jumped off the page in the draft as someone who was highly competitive and would drive standards to a high level,” Goodwin said.

“He was certainly a big part of rebuilding the Melbourne Football Club at the time and Alex displayed all of those qualities from the moment he walked through the door.

“His work ethic stood out, he had enormous respect for people, he communicated to a really high level and he’s got incredibly high standards on himself.

“We could see that competitiveness that sat within him.”

Despite displaying all the right attributes, Neal-Bullen’s early journey into the AFL world wasn’t easy, and he found himself in-and-out of the team.

But that determination shone through, and Neal-Bullen got to work, eventually becoming a consistent cog in the Demons’ forward line.

“It certainly wasn't easy for him, and he struggled in his first three or four seasons,” Goodwin said.

“It was really about some of his fundamentals that he had to go away and work on. The quality of the person and the player he is, he went away and worked on all of those things and finally forced his way into the team.

“From a coaching perspective, he really took responsibility and accountability for everything and drove the program that was put in front of him to an incredibly high level.

“He did an enormous amount of work on his skills, kicking, his touch, his ability to maximise opportunities in front of goal - all the things that a really good small forward needs in their game - and he hardly ever lost his spot after that.”

Following 10 seasons and 176 games at Melbourne, Neal-Bullen requested a trade to Adelaide, with a desire to return home to South Australia for family reasons.

Goodwin said letting one of his best players and a quality person go was tough, but he always wanted to do the right thing by Neal-Bullen.

“It's one (a decision) you wrestle with - when any player comes to you with a personal situation and the reasons behind wanting to go home - I know it was a tough conversation for Alex to come over to my house and have,” Goodwin said.

“The respect I had for him as a person, what he’d given our footy club, and also the quality of the human being, I said to him at the time ‘we’ll try and make that happen for you as best we can’.

“I knew that he was genuine with his reasons for wanting to get back to Adelaide and I am just so happy to see how he’s progressed in Adelaide and the opportunity that sits in front of him now.”

Although knowing he was going to the Club where Goodwin himself played 275 games and spent 14 years softened the blow a little.

“When he first left I said to him ‘you better grab No.36’, for a bit of history - but I will certainly be watching Thursday night all the way from Bali with great pride that he’s playing for the Club I was lucky enough to spend 14 years at,” Goodwin said.

“Alex is a big part of that Club, playing his 200th game and having an enormous influence on Adelaide now.”

Goodwin also had one final message for Neal-Bullen ahead of the milestone.

“I am so very proud of you, Alex, you’ve been a true inspiration to many people around you, but as a coach, you were a pleasure to coach,” Goodwin said.

“I love you, I love your family and all the very best.

“Have a great 200th, and more importantly, hopefully you win another premiership.”

Adelaide faces Collingwood in the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval on Thursday at 7.10pm.