Goulding was recruited to the VFL from NTFA club North Launceston after being a member of their 1979 premiership team.
He played two senior games mid season, a 114-point loss to Geelong at Kardinia Park and he kicked two goals the following week against Richmond, for whom Francis Bourke was making his 300th league appearance.
An on-baller and centreman, Goulding joined Claremont in 1982 and spent six seasons there, during which time he was a Western Australian interstate player.
He also represented Tasmania at the 1988 Adelaide Bicentennial Carnival and in 1988 he finished his career back at North Launceston, turning the Robins into a powerful combination where he was captain-coach until 1990, where he won the 'ABC Footballer of the Year' award despite missing many games mid-season due to a knee injury.
After a stellar finals series, Goulding badly injured his other knee in the opening minutes of the 1990 TFL Grand Final against Hobart and subsequently retired as a player but remained non-playing coach of the Robins until the end of the 1992 season where his highly fancied North Launceston team were beaten by Hobart in the Preliminary Final.