IN his own words, Archie Goodwin is "flying".
More importantly the Jets teenage sensation hasn't missed a training session this pre-season.
Goodwin's ability has never been in question.
Finally, it seems, his body is also up to the rigours of life as a professional football.
It hasn't been by accident.
The 17-year-old striker was restricted to eight appearances for a total of 169 minutes last season due to a series of injury setbacks to his growing frame.
When on the pitch, Goodwin made things happen.
His match-winning brace against Sydney FC was arguably the highlight of the campaign.
The Jets academy graduate signed a three-year deal in May and has since followed an off-season training program to get ready for what he hopes is "a breakout season."
"Last season, I went straight into it without thinking about my body," Goodwin said. "This season I had a view on what training was going to be like and have been able to condition my body to hit the ground running. I haven't missed a session. The body is keeping up well. It is obviously a high-demand training load. I'm flying now."
Most of the work focused on improving Goodwin's core strength.
"I spent a lot of time in the gym," Goodwin said. "I have done a lot of core and upper-body work to be more a solid kind of nine, so I can hold the the ball up a lot better. That was one of the things I needed to work on from last year. I thought it was really important for me to focus on that and I will continue to do that. I have put on three kilos since we started and am sitting at 78kg now."
The round-20 win over the Sky Blues was the only game Goodwin started last season. Georgian international Beka Mikeltadze was deployed at the point and scored 13 goals.
Goodwin is adaptable enough to play anywhere across the front three and has made no secret of his desire this season.
"I always shoot for the top," he said. "I want this season to be my breakthrough season. I will push myself as hard as I can to get that starting spot. Last year was tough, mentally more than anything else. Now I want to kick on."
Goodwin played off the bench in a friendly against Newcastle Olympic and the Australia Cup loss to Adelaide.
He spent four days in camp with the Australian under-20s in Canberra and sat out the 3-0 win over Wellington behind closed doors on August 12.
"There is a tournament in six weeks," Goodwin said. "It has always been a dream of mine to put the green and gold jersey on. I'm really looking forward to hopefully making that squad."
First is the Jets and a hit-out against a mid-north coast select side on Thursday night, where the Jets have been in camp since Sunday.
"My goal is to start this week," Goodwin said. "A lot of the new boys are getting into the swing of things. We are ramping it up and doing well as a whole.
