The ’03 Swans were expected to struggle after losing Paul Kelly, Wayne Schwass and Andrew Dunkley to retirement in 2002 but they defied expectations, winning 14 games en route to a preliminary final against the rampaging Brisbane Lions.
Goodes, who claimed the first of his two Brownlow medals that season, said he saw some similarities between the 2010 Swans and the ’03 vintage.
“We were still a developing side [but] we played three finals that year,” he said.
“We need to go out there and have the confidence like we have from the season that we’ve been part of. In ’03, that’s what we did. We had the confidence in each other, and trust and belief, and that’s a pretty important thing in finals footy.”
The Swans have won their past four games, including encounters with finals rivals Hawthorn, Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs, and enter Sunday’s elimination final against Carlton at ANZ Stadium as one of the league’s form sides.
Goodes said the foundation for his side’s late-season winning streak was laid in the wake of their “unacceptable” 73-point loss to Melbourne in round 17.
“As a leadership group, the majority of us played very poorly that day and we took full responsibility for that,” he said.
“It was up to us to really drive the performance the week after against Geelong. I thought we stepped up that game and obviously we didn’t get the result, but I felt like we were moving forward.
“That was due to the leaders and everyone buying in after the leaders and that’s what we really need in the finals - for our leaders to perform and it makes it a lot easier for everybody else to jump on.”
The current side’s personnel is considerably different to the Swans of ’03 - and ’05 and ’06, for that matter - but Goodes said its strength still lay in its discipline and team-first ethos.
“The last month definitely shows how much confidence the group’s got in each other,” he said.
“Just the discipline [in] that blokes coming into the team have been able to adapt to the game plan and change their roles from week to week. That’s what you need to do when you’re nursing a few injuries and have key players out of the team.
“All the players that have come in have just played their role and that’s been the real hallmark of the last month.”
