Goodes, fellow Swan Lance Franklin and incoming AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan were all in Sydney on Tuesday at a breakfast to officially launch the League's Indigenous Round.
Goodes has been the subject of two high-profile incidents of racism over the past year – vilified by a young Collingwood fan last season and again during the Swans' match against Essendon less than two weeks ago.
The dual Brownlow medallist believes people are becoming more comfortable speaking out about the issue, meaning there will be more cases of racism being reported.
"I think what we're going to find is it's going to get worse before it gets better," he said.
"Ever since the Essendon game, the amount of phone calls I'm getting from people in junior football leagues asking for support on "How do we deal with this issue at our local football club, this is what happened on the weekend".
"That to me means that more people are standing up and saying "This is unacceptable", which is what we want to start to do.
"That's how we're going to make change.
"For me, that's why I see it is going to get worse because people are going to call out more people, which I think needs to happen.
"But we also need the right support behind that, so we're helping those junior football leagues and helping those junior clubs, so they can better manage the education side of it."
On Tuesday, the Swans launched their own Reconciliation Action Plan, which includes a range of key points including:
- Developing and implementing an Indigenous and Torres Straight Islander employment strategy.
- Establishing an Indigenous Talent Stream as part of the Swans' Academy.
Goodes said former Swan and current Collingwood player Tony Armstrong and GWS' Zac Williams were the only two indigenous players from NSW competing in the AFL.
This weekend the 18 AFL clubs will wear specially designed jumpers featuring indigenous artwork, something they all recently committed to, McLachlan revealed.
"Six weeks ago there wasn't (18 clubs on board)," McLachlan said.
"I think there was 15.
"To have all 18 is symbolically significant. A club like Collingwood, it's such a significant thing for them to change their jumper.
"Hopefully it speaks volumes for our industry."
@adamroy37, @Buddy_Franklin and 18 kids showing off the sensational AFL Indigenous guernseys #aflindigenousround pic.twitter.com/3aHx2cZMYD
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) May 26, 2014
Franklin was also the subject of racial vilification back in 2011 when he was playing for Hawthorn against West Coast in Tasmania.
The son of an indigenous mother and white father, Franklin says elements of racism were commonplace while he was growing up in Western Australia.
He decided to speak up in the past and says it is important people continue to do so.
"That day (in Tasmania) was very upsetting, not just for me but for my people," Franklin said.
"I stood up to it and spoke to the AFL and they were a massive part of us improving as a football code and in everyday living.
"Racism is not on and the more we can educate people that it's not on … it's a good step forward we're taking at the moment.
"Growing up there was a lot of racism around, but you need to have that support around and helping to educate young kids coming through so we can hopefully stamp it out."
Goodes, Franklin and Lewis Jetta will all feature in Thursday's game against Geelong that will kick-start Indigenous Round, with the home team hopeful of its first sell-out at the revamped SCG.
