Central District captain Trent Goodrem has endured the highs and lows in the SANFL
Central District captain Trent Goodrem has been an extremely loyal servant for the Bulldogs since being recruited from Sydney.
MIDWAY through the SANFL season the Central District playing group leaders questioned what needed to be done to help lift the club out of the quagmire.
The Bulldogs had entered the season high on optimism, only to be languishing near the bottom of the ladder with just two wins from 10 games.
Bulldogs’ captain Trent Goodrem admitted it was tough mentally and the players were frustrated for coach Roy Laird, there was a feeling they were letting the seven-times premiership mentor down.
“We had not been in this position before and I thought we should have been better with this group,” Goodrem said. “Roy was coaching as well as he ever had in the way he motivated the players and set things up.
“We spoke among ourselves as leaders as to what else we could do to drive the group. It was hard to expect the young blokes to step up when the form of the leaders was patchy.
“But credit to the group, everyone just knuckled down and we started to turn it around and enjoy ourselves.”
Such was the remarkable recovery, the Bulldogs scrambled into the finals in the final minor round before conquering Norwood in the elimination final. Now they face Sturt in the first semi-final at Adelaide Oval tomorrow. The scenario confronting Goodrem after the nightmare start to the season was a contrast to his early years at Elizabeth.
Lured to the Bulldogs from Sydney in 2007 by the desire to test his game at a higher level, Goodrem claimed premiership medals in 2008, ’09 and ’10.
He had intended to play in Adelaide for a season or two and then return home. More than a decade later he is settled in South Australia, captains the Bulldogs, is married to Carly and they have a son Nate, 13 months.
“I knew I had a lot to work on when I came over,” Goodrem said. “The club did not expect too much from me initially, they looked at me as a sort of project player.
“My skills were average back then, but I was reasonably confident if I could get my body right, playing at a better level with great players I’d back myself to improve.”
Goodrem recalls hearing stories of the Gowans brothers and their extremely competitive rivalry. Just how intense the rivalry was still not understood in his early weeks at his new football club.
“Chris was away for the first couple of weeks of my first pre-season and when he came back James was away,” Goodrem said. “So I didn’t see any signs of the crazy brothers who fight.
“The first training session they were together we were about to do a 1km time trial and they were on the starting line belting the crap out of each other, telling each other they were going to smash them. Now I knew what everyone was talking about.
“The best thing about them is they were so into you if you stuffed up. But as soon as you did something right they were the first ones to get around you, and tell everyone they had taught you to do that.
“It was not personal, they just wanted to be the best and that is a big reason why the club was successful.”
Goodrem has made 196 league appearances for the Bulldogs. In that time there is not a position he has not played.
Off the ground he is Mr Niceguy, cross the white line and he is fiercely competitive and his courage can never be questioned.
As for his future, there is no commitment beyond 2018. But neither is there a decision to pull the pin on a terrific career.