A week ago, Sydney’s dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes compared poorly to Geelong star Gary Ablett.
Swans coach Paul Roos expressed “massive concern” about Goodes’ form after he struggled in the 42-point loss to the Cats at Skilled Stadium.
As Sydney drew yesterday with North Melbourne at Telstra Dome, Goodes was everything that Ablett had been eight days ago.
Like Ablett, every time Goodes had possession, he put a team-mate in a better position.
Like Ablett, he had a massive influence on the game and was clearly best afield.
“He was very good … you really could see early, he was up and going, he was making tremendous effort to run,” Roos said after yesterday’s game.
“Two or three players went to him at different stages, when he went forward he kicked a couple of goals as well, so that was certainly a lot more like we know Goodesy can play.”
Goodes declined to speak to the media post-match, wanting to wait another week or so before responding publicly to the public talk in the last few days about his form.
Roos’ comments about Goodes in the aftermath of the Geelong match were pointed and they predictably caught the media’s attention.
But the Sydney coach insisted today it was not a strategy to jolt Goodes into action.
“Really, I only respond to the questions and you try to be as honest as you can,” he said.
“The other thing I maybe said to a couple of people during the week, everyone knew that Adam had an ordinary patch in the last season.
“Everyone was making comparisons (between) this season and last season, so there’s no point in me going ‘no, he’s going really well, we’re not concerned about it’, because everyone relates it back to last season.
“It wasn’t really anything else (other) than that.”
While Roos was rapt with Goodes today, Sydney needs a consistent run of form from their outstanding utility.
“You can see what Adam means to the footy team – with that sort of profile and two Brownlows, there is expectation above and beyond what most players in our team have to put up with,” Roos said.
“I was confident he would respond and he did, now we’ve just got to make sure he gets up again for next week.”
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April 30th 2008 @ 7:35pm
Johnno said | April 30th 2008 @ 7:35pm | Report comment
Adam Goodes is probably the second best player in the comp (behind a fully fit and in-form chris judd) and he is the toughest player to match up on. With two brownlows, 2 best and fairest awards, 2 All-Australian jumpers and a premiership next to his name he has created a huge repuation for himself.Roosy the blokes 6’4 and runs faster than most midfielders in the comp, give him a break! He will find form and when he does he will dominate.He just needs time to cope with pressure of being the number 1 tag each week, so I think the criticism is fair, but premature. 6 rounds into the season and the poor blokes already under the pump.May the force be with you goodsy.