After winning two Brownlow Medals and playing 230 AFL games, Adam Goodes has finally been judged by Sydney as worthy of the captaincy.

The Swans unveiled the two-time club champion on Friday as co-captain for 2009, alongside fellow skippers Craig Bolton and Brett Kirk.

Goodes fills the gap left by fullback Leo Barry who is playing on this year without the title of co-captain.

It's a just reward for Goodes, a sensational talent in midfield who showed his versatility by kicking a career-best eight goals when sent to full-forward against Fremantle in round 19 last year when carrying a groin injury.

Back to full fitness for midfield duties, the 194cm, 96kg powerhouse is also conscious of the need to be a vocal leader on the field.

In a frightening prospect for rival clubs, Swans coach Paul Roos says the captaincy role could make the athletic 29-year-old an even better player.

"I don't think it will hurt him. I think it will help him," Roos said.

A keen observer of political issues, Goodes is regarded as a future leader of the Aboriginal community in Australia. He joins a select group of Aborigines to have captained an AFL club.

The group includes Geelong's Graham Farmer in the 1960s and more recently Port Adelaide's Gavin Wanganeen, Brisbane's Chris Johnson and Essendon's Michael Long.

Goodes admitted he needed to lift his output on the field in a leadership sense.

"I think what happened last year, Craig (Bolton) was elected over me and it gave me a few things that I had to work on in my leadership and I still have things to work on in my leadership," the two-time club champion said.

"It's great that I have the other leaders here at the football club to help me through those things with Kirky and Craig above me now and also Hally (current player and ex-captain Barry Hall) and Stuie Maxfield still at the club (a former skipper who is now player personnel manager), who can really help me with on-field leadership.

"It's just the on-field stuff, being more vocal.

"Making sure that if I'm not playing the best of football, that I'm still getting my team-mates up, I'm still being a voice and body language out of the field, those sorts of things."

Roos said Goodes was a tremendous role model.

"It's not only your on-field stuff but it's off-field stuff and the way you carry yourself around the football club," Roos said.

"The way he responded last year, he was disappointed but he went about his footy with his professionalism and pride."

Battling a groin injury and a one-game suspension, Goodes finished outside Sydney's top 10 in their club award but polled 21 Brownlow votes, only three behind winner Adam Cooney.

Roos said Goodes had impressed him with his desire for the captaincy role.

"In the past, captains have been given the job maybe because they have been there the longest or they were the best players and they never really got asked `do you want to be captain?'" Roos said.

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