Sydney Swans great Adam Goodes says becoming a Bloods Legend made for a “surreal” and “incredible” moment at the club’s Guernsey Presentation and Hall of Fame Induction Dinner on Wednesday night.
More than 550 guests poured into The Star on a night which saw Goodes – the Swans’ games record-holder, a two-time premiership-winner and a dual Brownlow Medallist – become just the eighth Swan in history to be elevated to Bloods Legend status.
Goodes, who graced the red and white in an illustrious career spanning 18 years between 1998 and 2015, now sits alongside seven glorified names in Swans folklore: Bob Skilton, Bob Pratt, Paul Kelly, Peter Bedford, J. Herbie Matthews, Ron Clegg and Peter Burns.
Goodes said to be placed among such revered names made for an almighty honour.
“It’s a bit surreal to be honest,” Goodes told SwansTV.
“To be recognised with other Legends of our football club, and to be put in the same sentence as those other Bloods Legends, is quite incredible. It’s something I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Goodes held aloft the 2005 premiership cup as Sydney trumped West Coast to break a 72-year flag drought, before co-captaining the Swans to premiership glory over Hawthorn alongside Jarrad McVeigh in 2012.
The 372-game Swan claimed his first Brownlow Medal as a ruckman in 2003, and he would add a second ‘Charlie’ to his mantelpiece as a rover in 2006.
Goodes collected three Bob Skilton Medals, earned four All Australian blazers, was a three-time club-leading goal-kicker, booted 464 career majors and won an AFL Rising Star honour.
He is also a member of the Indigenous Team of the Century and was named the 2014 Australian of the Year.
But Goodes, who set sail from Adelaide to Horsham to Sydney after the Swans secured his signature via pick 43 at the 1997 AFL Draft, steered clear of comparing his appointment to Bloods Legend status with his many other shining accomplishments.
“We play footy for the premierships, and those individual honours you achieve over the years are a nice pat on the back for a good season. But for me to be recognised three years after I retired, and to now be in the Swans Hall of Fame as a Bloods Legend, is an incredible honour,” Goodes said.
“You can’t put it on a similar platform to any other achievement because it’s an achievement of its own.
“I bleed red and white, this football club has been a big part of my life, I spent 18 years here and it’s really helped me develop into the person I am today.”
