Adam Goodes says it’s fantastic to have his close friend and co-captain Jarrad McVeigh back in the side to play Brisbane at the SCG tomorrow afternoon.

The pair had a kick of the footy together at Trumper Park in Paddington on Wednesday, and McVeigh told Goodes he wanted to play this weekend.

“It’s fantastic any time you get one of your good players back and obviously the past couple of weeks haven’t been the best for Macca and his family, and the football club,’’ Goodes said.

“For Jarrad there’s been no pressure on him to come back and play.

“On Wednesday I went for a kick with him in the park on our day off and he said he really wanted to play for himself, to get back into the routine. We are just grateful, whether it is next week or next year, there is no pressure on him and it’s his choice.’’

Goodes believes playing might be a help to Jarrad and his family, in some small way.

“On a personal note, he wanted to do something for his family straight away. It is real tough times at the moment, it is very sad, and for him to get back out on the footy paddock, just for two hours tomorrow night, might just get his mind off it a little bit,’’ Goodes said.

Goodes said it had been a very difficult time at the Club, but over a long footy career he had learnt to deal with ups and downs.

The emotion was written on his face after last week’s stirring win over Geelong at Skilled Stadium. Goodes said that win meant so much to the players.

“On a personal point of view, it was about knowing we really had an opportunity to do something not just for our football club but for our supporters and play a really good game of football down at Geelong.

“It really meant a lot to the players because for two hours we could play Bloods type of football and know Macca and his family would be watching it and it might take their mind off  it for a couple of hours.

“It definitely all caught up with me after the game. I put so much time and effort into getting myself  mentally and physically right for that game and it was overwhelming.

“Right after the game I really couldn’t buy into that because my thoughts were elsewhere but for us to have that win last week was huge and the preparation for this week has been very similar.’’

Goodes said the important thing was to bring the same effort and attitude to tomorrow afternoon’s game against Brisbane. “They’re in good form…they have a lot of young players buying into what Vossy is talking about.

“There is no doubt they want to finish the year with a win and will come here backing themselves to do so.

“We are not going to take them lightly. They are really committed to their game plan and that is what we’ve got to do, commit to our trademark before we get to finals because we don’t want to take bad form into finals.

“All we can focus on is beating Brisbane and prepare for four tough quarters of football here. It’s a 4pm start so I’d encourage families to come along. I can’t remember the last time we played at twilight here, the players are excited and it will be a great atmosphere.’’