The 351-gamer, who recently made the decision to return for an 18th AFL season, appeared at the SCG on Tuesday to promote Rexona’s ‘I WILL DO’ campaign, which aims to motivate every day Australians to achieve their fitness goals.
Speaking to SwansTV following the launch, Goodes did not hold back when asked about his goal for the upcoming season.
“My goal with ‘I WILL DO’ is to win the flag in 2015,” Goodes said.
“I’m not shy in saying that’s why I’m playing on another year and that’s why I’ll be motivated in the pre-season and in the pre-season games.
“There’s that burning feeling in my stomach, which I know a lot other players have after Grand Final day.”
Despite being determined to achieve a third premiership medallion next season, Goodes stressed that losing the Grand Final was not the motivation behind his call to play on with the Swans in 2015.
The 34-year-old, who played 20 consecutive matches after returning from a knee injury in round six, said regardless of the Grand Final result, his fitness was the catalyst for him wanting to go on.
“It was a really easy decision,” Goodes said.
“It didn’t matter what happened on Grand Final day, to be honest.
“Feeling the way I am mentally and physically, I would have played on, so if we had of won I would have played on.
“It was an easy decision for me and it was all about how my body felt physically, and I feel really good, so I look forward to running it into the ground next year and seeing what happens.”
While Goodes was feeling positive about his physical state this week, his feelings were vastly different at the same time last season, with his knee injury causing him to doubt whether he would be able to play at all in 2014.
Fortunately for Goodes, a revolutionary stem cell treatment, which was implemented by club doctor Nathan Gibbs, helped the Swans forward make a full recovery and allowed him to play the majority of games in 2014 and clock up his 350th career game in the preliminary final.
“There were some really big question marks on my knee and it really wasn’t looking promising in the pre-season,” he said.
“So to get the stem cells from Dr Gibbs and how well I responded to those probably saved my career this year.
“I’m grateful for that and the technology that’s happening around stem cells, and it’s definitely given me another opportunity next year to live the dream.”
Before preparations for next season get underway, Goodes will take a well-earned off-season break, before returning to the club in December to begin yet another pre-season campaign.
“I’m really looking forward to having a bit of time off now and then coming back and really getting into training again,” he said.
“For me, my goal next year is to win the premiership in 2015, so that’s the goal and the light at the end of the tunnel, but I’ll have small goals for pre-season and for the off-season.
“I’ll have small goals around diet and the training I can do in the off-season and then for pre-season and then for the game period.
“Every week we play, I’ll have a goal so I can measure my success.”
