ARCHIE Goodwin says he is in a "good place" after experiencing a difficult period following his second round of back surgery and is now ready to "make an impact" for the Newcastle Jets.
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Goodwin returned in style Saturday, scoring in a 30-odd minute stint off the bench to spark the Jets into a late fightback before they lost 3-1 to the Mariners. It was the 19-year-old's sixth goal in 25 A-League games and came in his first minutes since an Australia Cup match in July.
"Unreal," Goodwin told the Newcastle Herald in Gosford. "It's my first goal in a [local] derby too, so I'm stoked with that, but a disappointing result in the end."
Goodwin has been working his way back to full fitness following a recent back operation. Similar issues plagued him last year and it's been a frustrating period for the home-grown talent.
"It's been a lot harder," he said. "It was a bigger recovery. I slowly had to build myself up and get the right base for my body. But I feel like I'm at a place now where I'm strong enough and can withstand some solid minutes.
"Today was the right time for me to be out there."
One of the league's rising stars and a Young Socceroo, Goodwin admitted it had been a battle to stay positive.
"That was the hardest thing, mentally. I pretty much broke down after I did it the second time," he said.
"But I've bounced back from other things before and I just said to myself 'I've got to work hard and do everything even better this time'.
"I'm in a good place now. I just want to do my role and make an impact every time I'm on the park."
Jets coach Rob Stanton said he wanted Goodwin on the pitch as much as the club's supporters but he had to take a cautious approach.
"He's coming back from some serious back-area issues, and we just need to manage him really well," Stanton said.
"Monitor how much we allow him to work. We're just trying to get him to the point where he can play consistently, 30 minutes, and then recover really well without an issues.
"This is going to be a really good test this week.
"We're capping him with his time at the moment, we're capping him with how much loads he does during the week, just to make sure it's not putting too much stress, and while we're doing that we're trying to make him stronger, more durable and resilient.
"So far he had been able to do a little bit of that the last two, three weeks ... it's really promising. We've just got to do the right thing by him and not get too excited and throw him in for longer, and break him.
"Today, he changed the game ... he's a quality kid."
