During pre-season Goodwin broke into Sparta's first team line-up, but a shin splint injury meant his first game in the Eredivisie was as a second half substitute in their 3-1 loss to Ajax. However, the following week Goodwin was back to full fitness and scored on his starting debut against PEC Zwolle.

After missing out on selection for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the former Adelaide United star has vowed to build on his impressive club form and get back in the national team reckoning.

“That’s just motivation to keep working hard,” Goodwin told FourFourTwo.

“Obviously the injury that I had may have affected the opportunity to get into the squad but regardless of whether I’m in the squad or not I’ve got a job to do here at Sparta now. If I can focus on playing here regularly and doing well then hopefully I can be called up to the next squad.

“When you come to a new club the last thing you want is to pick up an injury and then have to sit on the bench and have to work your way back into it. So it was nice to be given a start and to get on the score sheet, and to pick up the three points was great.”

Getting used to his new surroundings in Holland, particularly Sparta Rotterdam’s playing surface, took some doing and Goodwin revealed that it partly contributed to his injury.

“Here at Sparta Rotterdam we train on astro turf at the home stadium and we play on the astro turf too,” the 24-year-old said. “So it was adapting to that a bit and adapting to the amount of training we were doing in the pre-season.

"But I played 20-25 minutes against Ajax on my debut and it was really good. Obviously they are a very good side and I came on when we were 3-1 down and it stayed like that for the rest of the game. It’s good to see the level of the best team in the country and to see where we are at. For large parts of the game we had good chances as well.”

Meanwhile, Postecoglou says that Goodwin’s progress in Holland will be monitored and revealed the winger could be in contention for a spot in the Socceroos squad in a couple of months.

“He was close and he’s certainly one we will keep an eye on,” the national team boss said.

“The October window is not that far around the corner, so if he continues his form he will be in the frame. For this squad with the injury he had it was wise just to make sure he gets to full fitness before we bring him in.”