It’s Craig Goodwin, alright – but not quite how you remember him in 2025-26.
The King of Coopers Stadium is back at Adelaide United after a stint in Saudi Arabia and his return to the City of Churches has coincided with Airton Andrioli’s promotion from the club’s head of youth football to head coach of the Isuzu UTE A-League side.
Andrioli has elected to use Goodwin in a central, free-roaming role through the first four rounds of the campaign, as opposed to the Socceroo’s usual deployment off the left wing at the Reds.
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Goodwin has, of course, drifted left throughout the season to date; it was off the left wing that Goodwin played a key role in Adelaide breaking the deadlock against Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night with a raking cross-field ball to Dylan Pierias before Luka Jovanovic’s clinical finish.
Just five minutes later, Goodwin scored a goal of his own – his first of the season – to make it 2-0 at Coopers Stadium. The close-range finish highlighted Goodwin’s flexible position in 2025-26; having swapped places with Jovanovic, the Young Socceroos striker played a ball off the left wing into Goodwin for a tap-in from right in front of goal.
It’s a role the Socceroos forward is eager to make the most of this season.
“It’s something different for me,” Goodwin told Network 10 after the 2-0 win over Western Sydney.
“I’ve played a little bit more structured (before) so it’s nice to have that freedom. We’ve got the players in the system to be able to do it as well; that’s probably what made it a lot easier.
“Jonny (Yull) can come inside when he’s on, he can play outside. Luka’s the same, he likes to drop in and go deep and Juan (Muñiz) as well is a quality player. Him dropping deep and getting on the ball allows us to have that rotation. It’s something that is probably very difficult for the opposition.”
MATCH REPORT: King of Coopers celebrates Socceroos recall in style as Reds pick winless Wanderers apart
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Goodwin was named in Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic’s squad for November friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia on Friday morning; included in the national team squad for the first time since having off-season foot surgery, Goodwin is now eager to use the domestic campaign with the Reds as an opportunity to secure himself a spot in Australia’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.
“It’s a World Cup year so it’s nice to be back in the squad and be able to have a chance to stake a claim for that World Cup squad later in the year,” Goodwin said.
“Being in that squad is important to me and a target for me come the end of the year, but I know it’s not going to come unless I produce good performances here week in week out. A good opportunity with this camp, I’m really looking forward to it.”
