Sydney Swans AFL games record-holder Adam Goodes has confirmed he will play on next year, declaring it was a simple decision.
Goodes chose the club's best and fairest dinner in Sydney on Friday evening to publicly announce his intention of playing a 17th season of senior football.
"I love playing football and I have enjoyed 2014 as much as I enjoyed my first year, so in the end it was a pretty simple decision," Goodes said.
"Certainly the view from mid-year, and the club has been very supportive, was that if my body could hold up to it, then there was no reason why I wouldn't continue on.
"My body feels as good as it has for some time and the fire is still burning, so I can't wait to get stuck into 2015."
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Three-time Swans best and fairest, dual Brownlow Medallist and four-time All Australian representative Goodes has played 351 games, putting him 13th on the AFL all-time appearance list.
He played the last 20 games of the Swans campaign after missing the first five of this season and the last 13 of their 2013 schedule due to knee problems.
Used primarily as a forward, he kicked 30.12, making him Sydney's third highest goalkicker behind Lance Franklin (79) and Kurt Tippett (34).
Goodes has moved up to fifth on the club's all-time goalkicking list, passing club legend Bob Skilton during the season and is 23 behind Tony Lockett and 28 adrift of Barry Hall.
Coach John Longmire was excited by Goodes's decision to continue next year.
"He is a great of our club but importantly he has been able to contribute really well for us, particularly late in the year," Longmire said.
"He has his pace and he still has his hunger to compete, so we are really pleased with his decision."
Longmire was also pleased that veteran defender Rhyce Shaw, who turns 33 later this month, has indicated he will saddle up for his 16th season at senior level.
"We are pleased to have two great leaders who want to continue on their careers and be part of that drive for us to improve as a group," Longmire said.
"Shawry played some great football this year after returning from a knee injury. We were really pleased with his run and look forward to him also returning."
The main question mark over Sydney's 2015 roster would appear to be the future of All- Australian defender Nick Malceski, who opened talks on Friday with Gold Coast.
