After moving from Adelaide Untied to Sparta Rotterdam Goodwin’s first season playing top-flight football in Holland proved to be a mixed bag.

For most footballers being involved in 30 matches, including wins against PSV and Feyenoord, scoring a goal that helped avoid relegation and a Semi-Final Cup appearance would be a satisfactory first European season.

But Goodwin said that while his 2016/17 campaign was decent his inconsistent starting appearances meant that it kept him out of contention for Ange Postecoglou's Australian squad.

“It did limit my chances with the Socceroos,” he said speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo.

“To be in the Socceroos you have to be playing regular football. So, for me having to come off the bench was quite frustrating.

"But this year I will be doing everything that I can to steer clear of those injuries and hopefully I can be on the park and play regular football more often than last year.

“This pre-season it’s been good so far, so hopefully I can feature in every game this season.”

 Goodwin revealed that a niggling injury was the reason a good season didn’t turn into a great one.

“After 11 games I had three goals and four assists then I had my hiccups with injuries,” he said.

“Overall I started 14 games in the season and the rest off the bench and in total I played 27 in the League and three in the Cup. I felt when I did play I was really able to affect games and contribute to my team and help us in a good way.

“But I picked up shin splints at the start of the year which obviously held me back a bit and I had to manage them all season and try and keep on top of it.”

Last season Sparta Rotterdam had just been promoted and while they had some great results throughout the campaign, the club faded in second half of the season meaning they just avoided the drop.

Looking ahead to the Eredivisie 2017/18 season, Goodwin hopes the club can be more consistent and not repeat what happened last term.

“It was a great result for us to stay in the league,” he said. “We started off really well and after about 13 games we were sixth on the ladder at one stage inside the top 10 and inside that Europa League spot as well.

“If we could have continued on with that form then it would have been a really nice finish but we had a really young side.

“This year we have got relatively the same side. We have made couple of signings but it takes time to bring the new players in and get them introduced to the system and the club's style.

“If we can play the way we can, then I think we can definitely push for a much higher position than last year.”