By Michael Esposito
The 26-year-old has played 111 games with North Ballarat – a team which has shown how to rise to the occasion in big games – and his Grand Final experience will be invaluable to the Seagulls.
Williamstown picked up the classy midfielder from NT Thunder, who he joined last year from North Ballarat for work reasons (he was the Indigenous Employment and Programs Manager with AFL NT).
The Western Bulldogs offered him a job as the club’s welfare officer, on an agreement that if he played VFL he would play for the Saegulls, and Goodes readily accepted. He said he always wanted to come back to Victoria, but making the return came quicker than he expected.
No doubt Williamstown will draw on Goodes’s finals’ experience to help the side claim that elusive premiership.
“History says that finals haven’t been all that good for Williamstown so that’s something they really want to improve on and I think that’s an area that I can help the club in, having played so many finals with North Ballarat and being successful in the past,” he said.
What will also work in Williamstown’s favour is Goodes’s working relationship with Bulldogs players, many of whom will spend much of the season representing the Seagulls.
As well as helping young players out with housing, study and work experience, Goodes will ensure AFL-listed players who play reserves understand what Williasmtown requires of them on gameday.
Goodes is arguably Williamstown’s prized recruit this season, and he will play an integral part in the Seagull’s quest for a flag, particularly with the loss of key position players such as Peter Faulks and Matthew Little.
In 2008 Goodes was a representative of the VFL Team of the Year and narrowly missed out on the Liston Trophy.
Last year he was NT Thunder’s best and fairest runner-up, an impressive effort considering he missed three games with soft tissue injury and was coming back from a hip operation in December 2009.
He enjoyed playing in the QAFL, but said the standard of footy was significantly lower than the VFL.
“You still had your good players running around but your bottom five to six players are not as good as they would be in the VFL, it drops away a bit,” Goodes said.
“In saying that, going from North Ballarat in the VFL to play for NT Thunder, who are playing their second year in the QAFL, it was a massive challenge in itself.
“The group’s young, they’re just coming together. It’s very difficult up there to try to play as a team and play a good standard at the same time.”
Playing at a lower level and coming back from surgery meant Goodes began preseason for Williamstown in far from the optimum physical shape.
“I’ve still got to get myself up to scratch in terms of playing VFL footy, with my fitness and strength conditioning, those sorts of things, obviously spending a year away from it I haven’t been able to keep that same level,” he said.
“I’ve got to work on myself a bit before I can start to help others.”
Goodes said his main goal was to play every game, but conceded it “might be unrealistic”.
“I haven’t done that for many years and it’s my goal every year.”
