Sydney Swans Chairman Richard Colless and coach John Longmire have thrown their support behind Adam Goodes, following on-air comments made by radio host and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire on Triple M Melbourne this morning.

The Swans pair fronted the media at the SCG this afternoon, and expressed their bewilderment at McGuire’s comments this morning, which suggested that Goodes could be used to promote the upcoming musical, King Kong.

Colless and Longmire described the comments as ‘unacceptable,’ particularly after Goodes’ stand against racism on Friday night and stressed the importance of supporting the 33-year-old following this morning’s events.

WHAT THEY SAID

Richard Colless’s reaction to McGuire’s comments
“On Eddie McGuire’s breakfast program on (Triple M Melbourne) this morning he made some comments which were an extension of the vilification that Adam experienced on Friday.

“As a club it’s impossible to underestimate how disappointed we are given who the individual is and given the highly commendable role that he played on Friday in providing support to Adam.

“It’s fair to say that the word we came up with earlier was ‘bewildered’. We just don’t get it.

“What the AFL has said is that this will be treated like a normal racial vilification matter regardless of who the individual is.”

Has Adam Goodes accepted McGuire’s apology?
“We believe (Adam has accepted the apology) and we think the context of that should be similar to what happened over the weekend.

“A number of us had lengthy chats with Adam during the day and his intentions were considerably different and I think on reflection it’s fair to say he thought it was in the best interests of all concerned to bring the matter to a head and move on.

“I don’t think that in any way should underestimate the pain that he is going through and if anything I’d say he is in a more emotional state as a consequence of this time than was the case on Friday.

Have you spoken to Eddie McGuire?
"He rang me following a text from me to him," Colless said.

"I just said 'I think we need to talk urgently. You know what I'm talking about. This is a very serious matter'.

"As Eddie always does, he got back very quickly and I opened the discussion by saying 'what were you thinking?'

"He asked me whether I'd heard the tape and I said no but I've read the transcript.

"He felt that didn't give you the full story and you needed to listen to the tape.

"I'm not a radio expert but I thought the transcript was pretty explicit and I just said 'I just don't think you've got anywhere to go on this'.

"How can we defend a comment as crass as the one that you've made?

"He went to great lengths to explain the context and his physical tiredness and so on and so forth.

What did you make of his comments?
“I think a slip of the tongue is probably one word mispronounced and this was actually a few sentences and I think having said it he very quickly realised how inappropriate it was.

“I’d like to think giving Eddie the benefit of the doubt that it was an absolute slip of the tongue, but he’s not a novice at this sort of stuff and he’s been doing it for 20 years and that’s why I guess we remain bewildered.

“It was a very ham-fisted comment that really you would have thought only an amateur that hadn’t read the papers over the weekend would have made.

Reaction to the events of the last week
“I think what we would say is that Friday was kind of what we believe in many years’ time people will look back and see as almost a seminal moment in the bridging of the divide between black and white.

“White Australians must understand that there are things that cause grievous emotional plain to indigenous Australians and we think in a way a lot of that has been undone five days later.

“We think that as painful as it was for Adam, long term a lot of good will come out of it because the majority of Australians will understand it a lot better than they did before.”

John Longmire’s reaction to McGuire
“After speaking to (Adam) today, he and us are very disappointed in the comments that were made this morning and Adam spoke to Eddie on the phone and had a chat about it.

“They discussed a number of things and Adam has known Eddie for a long time and knows the causes that have been promoted by Eddie … and Adam is obviously very disappointed in those comments.

“It’s not just about Eddie and it’s not just about us, I think it’s about Adam and how he feels and he was extremely disappointed with the comment.

“That ultimately is what it’s about and it’s what Adam thinks and how he felt and that’s what it should be about.

“(Adam’s) handled it in a really dignified manner on Saturday and that was about education and understanding and he’s handled it in the same way again today.

“We’ve talked to him through the course of the day, he was extremely disappointed this morning and he felt that way through the course of the day and then was able to speak to Eddie.

“As is Adam’s style, he was able to speak to the people concerned, relay his frustrations about the comments that were said, and as is Adam’s want and his type of personality is, hopefully some good will come out of it.

“We’ll support Adam as much as we can and he was certainly emotional about the comments made today and we’ll support Adam as we did after last weekend’s events.

“Adam is a mature, experience person who still needs some support through this.”