A trimmer Adam Goodes isn’t giving any clues about whether this will be his final AFL season, but says he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as a forward.
Now enduring his 18th pre-season, 35-year-old Goodes says Sydney have had closure on their catastrophic grand final performance from last year.
Goodes, who will play his first NAB Challenge game of the campaign against Fremantle at Sydney’s Drummoyne Oval on Sunday, is in the final year of his current contract.
He recognises people will again be wondering if it’s the last year of his storied career.
“Last year I was asked the same sort of questions early in the year and my goal was just to get back and play one game, and that came in round six,” Goodes said.
“To back it up with 20 in a row was a really nice reward for all the hard work and sacrifices I made, so I’m just looking forward to playing at Drummoyne for an hour this week and take every game as it comes.
“My contract is up in October, but I’m just really looking forward to the challenge of this week and what comes up in round one.”
The dual Brownlow Medallist says he feels better than last year and has benefited from a second bout of stem cell treatment.
“Last year there were a few little issues with the knee, but I definitely feel a lot stronger and confident in it and there’s no doubt that helps me a move a little bit better across the ground,” Goodes said.
“I’m three kilos lighter than what I was last year as well, so that definitely helps with the load on my knees.”
While he spent plenty of time up forward last year, Goodes was keen to dispel the impression that was the only role he could play.
“I don’t want to just pigeonhole myself as a forward player,” said Goodes, who won his Brownlow Medals as a ruckman and a midfielder.
“All our players this pre-season, we’ve been telling them to be open to the idea to play many different roles”
With the 63-point grand final mauling by Hawthorn finally behind him, Goodes was adamant the Swans don’t need to change much to give themselves a shot at a third flag and fifth grand final in 11 seasons.
“Hawthorn are definitely the benchmark team and we’ve moved on,” Goodes said.
“If you look at last year as as a whole, we had a good team and we just played a very bad game in the grand final.”
