The morning after the win, Goodes and the rest of his Swans teammates hosted a clinic for over 200 of the club’s junior members at Melbourne’s Lindsay Hassett Oval.
Goodes says he pulled up well after collecting five kicks and setting up two goals after coming on as the substitute in the third quarter.
“The knee feels really good,” Goodes said at the Melbourne Junior Clinic.
“It’d be nice to play 40 minutes each week and feel this good the morning after a game.
“In all seriousness, it was good to get out there and play 30-to-35 minutes, feel good, get a win and move forward now with trying to play some more game time.”
Goodes injured his knee in round 13 last year and attempted to return to the field for the Swans’ finals campaign.
While he couldn’t make it back in time and was subsequently forced to watch on during the early stages of this season, Goodes always knew he’d make it back.
“To be honest, the last two months hasn’t been frustrating because you know how close you are (to playing),” Goodes said.
“The hardest part was getting close to getting back last year for finals and just not getting there.
“Obviously for us to make the preliminary final and not be able to have an impact in the second half of the year was really frustrating.
“I always knew I’d get back at some stage this year and it was just nice to get back so early (in the season).”
After a slow start to the year, the Swans recorded consecutive wins for the first time this season and sit ninth on the ladder with a 3-3 winning record.
While Saturday night’s match was Goodes’ first for the season, it was also the first time the club had faced a team led by former coach Paul Roos.
“It was nice to look across at the quarter time huddle and pretty much see a whole bunch of ex-Swans people over there,” Goodes said.
“Melbourne really took it up to us, they really came at us one-on-one, and we’ve got some sore and battered bodies.”
After copping a knock to the knee and making way for Goodes to come on as the sub in the third quarter, Lance Franklin says he is hopeful he’ll be fit to face Brisbane this Saturday night at the Gabba.
“The knee’s feeling all right this morning,” Franklin said at the Melbourne Junior Clinic on Sunday.
“I iced it up all last night, fingers crossed, we’ll see how we go this week but I’ll do all my recovery right and hopefully I’ll be right for Brisbane.
“It’s not related to anything in the past. A couple of years ago against Geelong I hurt my knee but it’s nothing related to that so I’ll do all my recovery right, speak to the physios and doctors during the week and we’ll see how it pulls up.”
