It’s been confirmed - Swans co-captain and dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes is human.

While many expected the champion to return in his best form, Goodes’ seven possessions in Friday night’s win over Geelong was evidence that even the AFL’s best take time to find their feet after an extended period on the sidelines.

One person who wasn’t surprised by Goodes’ quiet evening was Swans coach John Longmire, who last week cautioned fans not to expect wonders from the club co-captain in his first game back.

“For Adam Goodes to come in after missing six weeks and for it to still be difficult (for him), it just shows how tough the game is,” Longmire said today.

“And like I said before the game - don’t expect any miracles from Adam Goodes (in his first game back).”

Rather than being worried about his performance on Friday night, Longmire was pleased with the amount of football Goodes was able to get through.

The coach likened Goodes’ return to that of fellow team mate Shane Mumford, who has slowly been working his way back to his top form in the ruck.

“We were just thrilled for (Goodes) to be able to get through the game … and to be able to play 65-70 minutes of footy and we were able to put the vest on him and make sure he is right for next week both training wise and playing wise,” he said.

“He was still a bit stiff today and if he was to play 85-90 minutes out of that game, he might have been in real jeopardy for this week.

“I think it’s been the same with Shane Mumford, and I don’t think it matters who you are, very few people are able to walk in after missing a significant bit of the footy season and be able to pick it up just like ‘that’; the competition is too tough and you’ve really got to respect the competition.”

Much like Mumford’s return to the side, Longmire said Goodes will spend the majority of his time in the forward line over the next few weeks.

“We’ll keep him forward and use him up the ground as we see fit,” he said.

“We’re hoping that as his game time builds, his resilience builds from a physical sense and we can use him as we did at the start of the year.

“At this point of time we just want to make sure he contributes in the forward line, and if we need to use him on ball it will only be for short periods of time.”

After two weeks back in the side, Longmire said Mumford showed signs of his best form in the win over the Cats.

Longmire said Mumford’s play at the beginning of the match was indicative that the ruckman was getting back to his best football.

“I thought Mummy in the first quarter-and-a-half started to contribute to a few goals,” he said.

“I thought some of his taps and some of his follow-up work at ground level was the Shane Mumford we know.”

Both Goodes and Mumford will continue their quest to get back to their best form in this weekend’s second Sydney Derby.

Despite GWS only winning one game for the season, Longmire said there is no doubt the competition’s newest team have shown significant improvement since round one.

“We saw what (GWS) did against Richmond up here a couple of weeks ago and thought they were really competitive and there were only a couple of kicks in it in the last quarter,” he said.

“We look at that, and we look at the fact that they’ve got some really hard nuts and their contested work has been terrific for a young team.

“They’ve got a couple of quality key forwards in (Jonathon) Patton, who has just come into the team, and if you look at Jeremy Cameron, he’s one of the best young players in the competition.

“I think they’ve got plenty of talent and we’ve got to make sure we respect them, which we will.”