SIMON Goodwin has praised the efforts of Aaron vandenBerg, who made his long-awaited comeback from an ankle injury in the VFL last weekend.

Goodwin said vandenBerg, who laid 16 tackles in three quarters, did everything right upon his return.

“He was outstanding,” he said from AAMI Park on Wednesday morning.

“To come back after 18 months out of footy – nearly two years, really – and to come out and have 22 touches and 16 tackles on a difficult day at Casey gives us great hope that he’s going to progress, and have an impact for us this season.

“There is certainly no pressure on him – we’ve still got to get some game time into him. We’ve got to give him three or four weeks of really solid VFL footy and then I’m sure he’ll be putting his hand up for selection.”

Goodwin was adamant the team had significant growth in the remaining seven home and away rounds.

But he said discussing finals was not on the agenda at the moment. He was more concerned with Saturday’s clash against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.

The Dogs will be missing star Marcus Bontempelli.

“We’re certainly not preparing for them to be any different [without Bontempelli],” Goodwin said.

“We can’t look much further than this week.

“I’m not even going to worry about talking about finals or round 23 – we’re so far away from that, it’s not funny.”

Meanwhile, Goodwin said Bernie Vince had done enough for a recall.

“I can’t sit here and say that he’s going to play, but he’s certainly performing well at VFL level.”

“He didn’t play on the weekend, but if a spot comes available, he’s certainly in the selection mix.”

Goodwin said Vince and Jordan Lewis could both play in the same side.

“Without question, we’ve had some success through the year when both of them have played together,” he said.

“We’re really confident that in the right form, they can both play in the same side.”