“I look at it as obviously they’ve shown a bit of faith in me, and that’s all I see it as, and I’ve still got to work hard and prove myself.”
“Obviously I was fighting for that last spot last year on the rookie list, and to not have to fight for it this year – it doesn’t mean you can slack off – certainly is exciting and I’m looking forward to playing round one again.”
“Even if I was on a rookie list again it was still going to be hard work this pre-season and hopefully playing games again.”
Playing 13 games in his debut season, 29 year-old Goodes averaged over 20 possessions, five marks and two tackles per game, playing a rebounding role off half-back.
With a broken wrist against Hawthorn round 17 prematurely ending his 2013 season, Goodes told AFL.com.au he expects to be back into full training by Christmas, indicating his recovering ir progressing well.
Announced last week that Goodes will be upgraded to the Western Bulldogs’ senior list, the former mature age rookie says patience has been the key to ensuring a complete recovery from wrist surgery.
“[I’m] just getting back into pre-season, I’ve been able to run since it happened which has been good, so fitness has been OK,” Goodes told AFL.com.au.
“It’s just getting the balls back in, kicking footies, and getting contact back into it, so that’s coming along OK.
“We’ve got to take it easy, we can’t just go in and smash into it straight away.
“By Christmas I should be fully into it, and ready to play little scratchies if we need to."
