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After taking a two week sabbatical from the rigours of AFL football, Sydney’s Adam Goodes is set to make his return to the Big League.
Shaky early season form and an unwillingness to play as a substitute saw the big Swan lose his spot after Round 2, but a couple of strong showings in the NEAFL over the past two weeks has been enough to convince the selectors that it is time to bring him back.
But just how beneficial will Goodes’ break away from first class football turn out to be? Especially as it was a break that Goodes basically requested himself, preferring to play a full game at a lower level rather than face the limited game time that usually befalls the AFL substitute.
Fitness wise there has to be a plus, confidence as well perhaps, but as far as intensity is concerned, does being a big fish in the small NEAFL pond provide adequate preparation?
With no disrespect to the NEAFL, it is hardly among the stronger of the feeder competitions, and for a fading AFL star who has shown signs of struggling to keep up with the tempo of the game, will a full game at a lesser level be any more beneficial than the quarter or so of elite level competition he would have experienced as a sub?
At least as a sub, he would have still been subjected to the force and speed of football being played at its very best. In the NEAFL he wasn’t, and lot of former AFL stars will tell you that the game can seemingly change overnight.
One moment you’re floating along nicely with the ebb and flow of the game, while the next you’re being dunked and splashed, drowning in the chaos as your younger teammates take over your position and cruise off over the horizon.
Goodes is a proud player. He has been a champion in the true sense of the word, but his decision to surrender his spot in the team to chase form in the reserves was a brave one.
Any fringe player will tell you that a spot in the seniors is a spot to cherish, to hang onto at all costs. Not many are given the luxury of being able to have their spot kept warm for them while they go off to find confidence or form elsewhere.
Perhaps Goodes hasn’t had to fight hard enough for his position to realise this. Champions rarely do. Their spots in the side are always assured. Goodes is now facing up to the reality that haunts hundreds of league footballers everyday – uncertainty.
And that changes everything.
Now that his spot in the team is not assured, he has to work damn hard to retain it. He is going to have to accept that for him to continue to be a part of a successful Swans outfit he must bow to the demands of his team. If that means games where he plays as a sub, well, so be it.
If it is determined that his value to the team is to come on late in the game as a burst or impact player, then that is the role he must play.
Age wearies everyone and sadly, champions of the game are no exception. To survive into their twilight years as players they need to adapt to the meet the needs of the team and accept the harsh reality that the team is no longer built around them.
Geelong’s Stevie Johnson may not have been happy about starting in the green vest last weekend, but at least he did. He didn’t sulk or throw his toys out of the cot – although he was displeased – and when he was finally called upon to take the field, he was serviceable, fulfilling his role by kicking a couple of goals and probably doing enough to ensure that he is back in the team proper for this Saturday’s clash against Richmond.
But even if he wasn’t, I doubt very much if he’d ask to be dropped back to the reserves. Having had his own troubles early in his career he is well aware of the sanctity of his place in the senior team.
He knows that it could all disappear in a heartbeat, that to drop out voluntarily in the vague hope of resurrecting past form could just be the excuse the club is looking for to move you along.
So how will Goodesy go this weekend?
I hope that he goes well. His brilliant best is behind him but his value now is in his experience and footy nouse. That alone should ensure that he more than holds his own.
But there will be days as we go deeper and deeper into the season that will see him struggling and there will be days when his value to the team will be as the substitute, coming on late and fresh, to weave some of the magic that we know he can.
We all accept this. It is time that Adam Goodes did as well.
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