A defiant and fiercely proud Adam Goodes has again stood by his indigenous war cry, and says the reaction to his goal celebration against Carlton on Friday night has been extremely surprising.
The dual Brownlow medallist charged at Blues fans after he kicked his first goal in the second term of the Swans' 60-point win, and admits he intended to direct his actions at the Carlton faithful.
"It's a war cry dance, so it would be silly to do it to my own supporters. It's a dance that I haven't been able to perform with the Indigenous All Stars," Goodes said following the Swans' recovery session on Saturday.
"I haven't had an opportunity to show that passion, and that pride about being a warrior and representing my people and where I come from.
"There was nothing untoward to the Carlton supporters. It was actually something for them to stand up and go, 'yep we see you, and we acknowledge you - bring it on.'"
"My teammates loved it, the Carlton players loved it.
"For everybody else, take a chill pill, understand what I was doing, and if there were Carlton supporters offended by what I was doing, I'm sorry, but it was a war cry.
"Is this the lesson we want to teach our children that when we don't understand something we get angry and we put our back up against the wall (and say) 'Oh that’s offensive?' No. If it's something we don't understand, let's have a conversation."
"This is something that a lot of Aboriginal people are proud about. You ask any New Zealand person about the Haka. Do you think the Wallabies find that offensive?"
Goodes revealed his inspiration behind the war cry was an Aboriginal representative youth side made up of teenagers from across Australia, the Flying Boomerangs.
"It's something these kids came up with for us to all embrace, and hopefully one day you might see us do the war cry at an AFL game, but from the reaction last night, it looks like that might be a fair way away," Goodes said.
The veteran said that he hoped the attention surrounding his own actions wouldn't negatively impact the rest of the indigenous players competing this weekend.
"I'm very proud about my culture. It's a culture I've only learnt a lot about in the last 10 years and I want to represent it," Goodes said.
"It's Indigenous Round. What are we saying to those other indigenous boys who are going to run out over the next three days, if they had something planned?
"Are they going to go out and represent and be proud? I hope so.
"I want people to go out and represent because we have so many different cultures in this country."
A rejuvenated Goodes has been amongst the Swans' best players in their last two wins over Hawthorn and Carlton, and the two-time premiership star admits he is frustrated by the intense focus on matters other than his team.
"It would be nice to talk about football, because I actually love it," Goodes said.
"I'm 35 years old, this is my 18th season, and I've played 358 games. I'm playing for a football club that hopefully is vying for another premiership.
"I'd love to talk footy, I really would."
