I was actually just about to bring that up.
People who defend goodwin always bring up that time he shut down jamie lyon in 2013, but they fail to mention how just a few weeks later in the preliminary final, lyon learned his lesson about Goodwins rushing in and bad decision making and absolutely destroyed him in the game that mattered the most. Thankfully he was picked for new zealand and in the world cup final australia again targeted him to great effect. He has never been the same since. I think maguire uses him as a fill in player until someone better comes along. In 2014 he got a few games do to injuries, but once auva'a and johnston debuted he barely got a look in. I feel that the plan was for gray to be winger and goodwin was only there until auva'a suspension was over, but an injury to gray kept his spot on the team. It took until very late in the year for Souths to resign him, he was shifted from centre the first time auva'a was available, plus with been linked to many centres on the market including a big attempt at luring roberts to the club shows that there probably isn't as much faith in Goodwins abilities as fans make out. Sure he got the members award but can you seriously say he was better then guys like inglis, sutto, tom burgess or even Stewart this year? After the last regular season game even rabbits20 was calling him hopeless and not 1st grade standard. What helped his cause was that in the last game of the year he seemed to be the only player to put in, and with that fresh in people's memories helped him win the members vote.
