Scintillating Swans: The Ultimate Season

Round 19 - Champion

Hawthorn v Sydney – Round 5, 2012

Adam Goodes was a champion footballer – one who shows marked superiority. He is a champion for his people – one that does battle for another's rights or honour.

By sheer definition, he qualifies both on and off the field. In the fledgling stages of what would be a victorious season in 2012, Goodes broke good friend Michael O'Loughlin's Swans all-time games record of 303 matches. And while the venue for this historical occasion – Launceston – was unconventional, his performance in what was a stirring comeback victory, was not.

When Goodes was drafted to the club, O'Loughlin was one of the first to make contact and a fierce friendship was formed. At the club's request, he was on-hand to join in the celebrations for his mate's milestone.

"I'd held that record for a couple of years, but it was always going to be broken. It's only when we have a few beers together that he brings it up. I'm quite content with that, I'll let him have that!" O'Loughlin jokes.

"We had such a great core of players that had played a huge number of games and I knew it was always going to happen. That's what records are there for, to be broken. Having one of my best mates do it, was amazing. The club got me down there, I presented him with his jumper and it was brilliant."

"He killed them. He tore them apart in his 304th game. That was incredible to be a part of. Who would've thought that two skinny little blackfellas would've gone one and two for most games played at our great club? We've now got me, Goodesy, Jude, and McVeigh who have all played over 300. We all played together, I've seen all of those guys grow up; it was a great era," he adds.

The story of Adam Goodes the footballer is one of perseverance. Sydney Swans chairman, Andrew Pridham recalls the inauspicious circumstances that helped shape the champion to be.

"He came to the club and I think lots of people had doubts about him. Whether he had the aptitude and the drive to succeed was questionable. He got a few kicks in the backside early on and he more than rose to the occasion."

In his first year at the club, Goodes remained in the reserves as deficiencies were eradicated. He debuted in 1999 and went on to win the competition's Rising Star award. O'Loughlin remembers the determination that defined his young teammate.

"You can have incredible talent, which Adam had, but then to cop criticism and take that criticism on board at a young age was something that not many people could do".

He continues, "Humans are strange. We don't like people telling us off and we don't like to take criticism. Adam got a lot of criticism as a junior player and to do something about it, where he turned himself into one of the best players that this club has ever seen, was incredible."

O'Loughlin watched on over the ensuing seasons, as Goodes knuckled down and began maturing into one of the game's elite.

"The Adam Goodes that entered the Sydney Swans and the Adam Goodes of today are almost two different people. The amount of learning and maturity that has gone into making who Adam Goodes is, has been incredible. The only person who can take the credit for that is Goodesy – he's the one who did it. I may have played a small part here and there, Paul Roos, Richard Colless, Paul Kelly and others as well, but the bloke who worked so hard and did the work himself, was Goodesy."

By the time the 2012 season began, Goodes had three Bob Skilton medals, a premiership, and two Brownlow Medals in his possession. The team had built nicely over the previous two seasons and began that year in fine form. This match against Hawthorn, famously tough to beat in Tasmania, was pivotal and the win would solidify the premiership chances of our team. Goodes amassed twenty-one possessions, seven marks, and three goals, as our Swans soared to a pleasantly fitting thirty-seven-point victory after an eleven-goal-to-two second half. We all know how that season unfolded.

When asked about the impact of Goodes on the culture of the club, Pridham cites his humble manner as being paramount.

"He just ticks so many boxes. Throughout his career, apart from just being a great player, he was also a great team man.”

He continues, “He is very humble. How often have we heard stories of the young kid coming into the club, having one of the first players to go and shake their hand, show them around and spend some time with them, being Adam. Although, that comes with the territory when you have number 37 and you sit with all the high numbered players in the locker room, that's how it tends to roll." Pridham laughs.

His influence has of course now transcended the football field and our club. As a confidante, O'Loughlin has witnessed the growth of Goodes first-hand. "I'm just really proud of what he's accomplished on the field, but off the field, he is just unbelievable. He's an even better person than he was a footballer. Then, we start to talk about Aboriginal rights and what's happening currently, and what Adam has been through and fought for, that makes him inspirational."

While this record-breaking match encapsulated Goodes' incredible footballing skill, the next week would see him injured, and for the first time in thirteen seasons since debut, he missed multiple weeks. With footballing mortality edging closer, Goodes sought self-education as a catalyst for success in retirement. He founded the GO Foundation with O'Loughlin in 2014, enabling educational scholarships for Indigenous children. The Foundation's values are Integrity. Equality. Opportunity. Strength in culture. Seems about right to me.

With the much-publicised events of 2013 providing a flashpoint in Goodes' career, the ensuing and final seasons were played through adversity.

Both O'Loughlin and Pridham watched in admiration as Goodes' fine character again shone through. "I'm incredibly proud of how strong he was and how he represented our people. Not only the Aboriginal community but also to an extent, non-Indigenous people too. This is a great country but we have a lot of learning and a lot of listening to do. That's the Adam that I know," O'Loughlin states.

Pridham agrees. "You've got the impact of the whole booing situation and the Australian of the Year and what he went through there, which was extremely difficult for him and the club. I've been involved with the club for twenty years and that was one of the most difficult things we've had to deal with. He went through a lot of rubbish, but he just kept his head up and kept delivering, which is all anyone could ask of him."

With our Bloods twenty-points down at halftime on that crisp Tasmanian April afternoon, Goodes did as he often did. He stood up. Playing as a key forward, he bustled his way to a dominance only the truly great players can enjoy. If he wasn't kicking goals, he was creating them. If he wasn't marking the footy, he was crashing packs. He was making the play. He sensed the moment.

For O'Loughlin, this is the epitome of Adam Goodes.

"The way we view Adam is as an inspiration, with young people looking up to him, but the only bloke who can take credit for forging the career that he had and for becoming the person that he is, is Adam."

He continues, "He put his head down and he worked incredibly hard at his craft and he put his head down and he worked incredibly hard at learning about his background and his heritage; where he's from. He went on that journey and that's a completely different story to mine. I grew up in an Aboriginal community, I always knew who I was and where I'm from. Adam had to learn all of that stuff. I'm just really proud of him."

Aussie rock icon & footy tragic, Tim Rogers once said that Goodes had a mix of almost balletic poise and perpetual forward motion, with his style bringing a rare mix of dread, anticipation, and awe to opposition supporters. Luckily, he was on our side. Adam Goodes finished his career on 372 games. We will see many more champions in the red and white, but we will never see another like him.