AFL legend Adam Goodes has been immortalised with a statue unveiled at Sydney Swans Headquarters on Friday.
The statue depicts Goodes doing a war cry, a memento of the iconic gesture he made after scoring the first goal at the 2015 AFL Indigenous Round.
It was a moment that saw him cop unprecedented racial abuse and led to his retirement from the league, but speaking to the crowd at the opening, Goodes said it marked the first time he'd celebrated his Aboriginality on the pitch.
"That was ... something which I'd never done before, and that is to go on the biggest stage, a football field, and do a dance and celebrate my culture and Indigenous rounds," he said.
"Being an Indigenous person, that would be a safe place to celebrate my culture."
Adam Goodes doing a war dance in 2015. Source: Supplied
Goodes said he hopes the statue serves as an inspiration to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"Hopefully it really symbolises for our young people to continue to celebrate our culture, no matter what stage you've got," he said.
"We should be proud of who we are, where we come from.
"We need our young people to keep being inspired by those people in our communities because it's up to us to raise ourselves."
Michael O'Loughlin and Adam Goodes with children in front of the new statue. Credit: NITV
"In a nutshell, this is Adam Goodes," he said.
"He's always about fighting for the people without a voice. He's always there when you need him on and off the field."
Goodes spent his entire 18-year career in the AFL with Sydney Swans, playing a record 372 games for the club.
In that time, he was awarded two Brownlow Medals and three Bob Skilton Medals, won two premierships, earned four All-Australian blazers, was named an AFL Rising Star and was named in the Indigenous team of the century.
In 2014 he was named Australian of the Year and established the Goodes-O'Loughline Foundation which supports young Indigenous people with access to education.
