01x05 - Adam Goodes

[bunniefuu]

LEIGH SALES: Fletcher, how are you

doing? Chau, how are you?

I'll just I'll just stay seated

when I ask my questions.

It's up to you, Chau. You just do

whatever you feel comfortable with.

Whatever you like.

We've got some good questions today.

It should be good.

You look nice today, Leigh.

Thanks very much, Abbey.

He's coming! Oh, my God.

Everybody, this is Adam.

Hey.

WOMAN: Hello, Adam.

ADAM: How are we doing?

MAN: Good.

There's a few worried people

upstairs here

worried about their jobs at the ABC

because of you guys.

(LAUGHTER)

(GASPS) Wow. He's so tall.

Oh. This is nice.

MAN: My dad thinks you're a legend,

by the way.

Yes. Alright. I'm happy with that.

This is a nice audience, isn't it?

Hey?

MAN: Hello, Adam.

We are a collective of

autistic journalism students,

and we are very happy

to have you join us today.

Our rules are,

no subject is out of bounds,

no question is off the table,

and anything might happen.

Welcome to The Assembly.

Thanks, Mitch.

(APPLAUSE)

I didn't know I had to agree

to those rules beforehand.

(LAUGHTER)

MAN: Quiet on set.

And action.

For the first time in Australia,

autistic students are undertaking

an autism-friendly introduction

to journalism course.

They will be mentored by

one of Australia's best journalists

and attend classes at university.

What is journalism

and why is it important?

To test their skills,

the students will interview some

of Australia's most famous people.

WOMAN: To get behind the spin

Wow, this is big.

..to find the real person.

What was school like for you?

You are 40 this year. Any plans

Oh, Jackson. (LAUGHS)

Do you love your husband?

That is a beautiful question.

When you have to look terrified

in a movie,

what are you thinking about?

That's a really good question.

ALL: We are The Assembly!

This Oh, my goodness.

One and a two

MAN: Alright. Let's get the show

on the road.

Let's get this show on the road.

Yeah. Stephanie. Whoo!

You look beautiful in your blazer.

Sit here.

Yeah, sure. Sit here.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

Hi, everyone!

Hello, Leigh.

How's everyone today?

Good.

Are you all excited about this week?

MAN: Stoked.

OK. Now, our next guest.

He is an absolute legend

of Australian sports.

He's also a former

Australian of the Year.

He does some incredible work around

Indigenous literacy and education.

He's got two Brownlow Medals,

which is a very prestigious

sporting award that you can get.

The next guest is Adam Goodes.

(ALL EXCLAIM)

What a good guest.

Whoo!

Yes, it'sit's

an incredible opportunity

to meet a legend of his

respective sporting code.

COMMENTATOR: On the greasy turf.

And then

Goodes! Awesome mark.

COMMENTATOR: What about that mark?

The Brownlow medallist.

COMMENTATOR: Have a look

at this piece of magic.

COMMENTATOR: He's just got

to love him, don't you?

They've done it! What a team.

That's what it's all about.

MAN: Number 37. Adam Goodes.

WOMAN: Wow.

WOMAN: Ooh!

I don't know much about sports.

That's OK.

Another way you can think about it is

sport is kind of a bit like life,

in that there's highs, there's lows,

there's drama.

Oh!

Everyone's looking at you.

50,000 people looking at you.

Oh, no.

What do you all think?

What are your early thoughts

about Adam?

What does he do to make himself

more calm

after he's been through

a lot of hard times

with people being r*cist?

ADAM: Here a 13-year-old girl

called me an ape.

It's not her fault.

She's 13.

She's still so innocent.

I don't put any blame on her.

That's right. What tools does he use

to stay calm and even?

That's a great question.

I think we should think

really broadly about

all sorts of things

that we could ask Adam.

Why don't we split into groups?

Then I can work with everyone a bit

individually.

And I'm at the front.

He looks different now

with a ponywith a man bun.

OK.

A book author.

How's everyone's prep been going?

Um, I guess I'm trying

to make mine creative.

The best way to get somebody

who's been interviewed a lot

to be engaged in the interview

is to ask them something

they've never been asked before.

MAN: Do you like real swans?

I think that would be good.

I'd be interested to know

what he said.

Oh! I got a good one.

So, OK, the questions I got was,

um

When the kid called you an ape,

were you eager to call her back

another name?

No, that's no good.

Well, I'm not sure, like

That isn't a good question.

We can think about it.

Have you ever been called names?

Oh! Oh, yeah. Trust me.

How did you feel

when people called you names?

I was heartbroken.

I cried.

Whenever I see a teenager,

I would probably run away and hide.

Yeah. (SNIFFS)

I'm 20 years old.

I like gaming, collecting plushies.

And my dream job is to become

a voice actor.

How did you know about that?

That's not how it happened.

Some people just don't understand

autism much,

and they just see it

as an opportunity just to, like,

bully someone.

And here is my gaming room.

I think the reason why I like gaming

is entertaining.

It gets me out of the real world

and makes me focus on

something else.

I do worry what people

will think of me.

Like, am I good? Am I smelly?

Am I, um

Do I look weird?

I just want people to think

I'm human.

I'm a person that's living

and having challenges

and want to be talked to.

I'm doing this course because

I want to boost up my confidence,

because I think my confidence

has gone down way too much.

I'm hoping my questions are good.

They are, Anastasia. They're great.

Nailed it.

(LAUGHS)

I think doing this course

makes me feel more of a human

and more of a person.

Hugging Delta

Well done, beautiful.

Talking to Hamish.

Talking to the Prime Minister.

They know what I'm going through

and they know what's happening

in my life.

And the Prime Minister

shook my hand.

Like, how

How many chances of a life

you got with that?

Yeah.

What are you thinking, Andrew?

What types of plants

do you have in your garden?

Yeah, great.

I thought that was good.

Me and Bethany are going

to give him a treat.

I saw that.

Afterwards, me and Bethany working

on a thankyou speech for you.

Great. Oh, that's so nice.

I'm going to give Adam a grevillea

because I know that he loves

planting trees.

I think asking a plant question

is definitely good

if you're going to give him

a present of a plant later.

I just think plants are wonderful

and they make you happy.

Welcome to my home.

And I'm going to show you

some plants.

This plant here is a monstera

that I propagated.

I just love monsteras.

I just love the way

the leaves are bright.

This one here is a devil's ivy.

This is an anthurium.

This is a syngonium.

Epipremnum snow queen.

Another monstera.

Calathea. Silver sword.

Satin pothos.

Another thing I love enjoying

doing is my advocacy.

And I'd like to take you into

my special advocacy sensory room.

I have spoken at many conferences,

and I spoke in Singapore

at the Asia Pacific Conference,

which was really unique,

because I made a video of my life

where it was from when I was little

to today,

with all my achievements I've done.

Over here I've got,

when I was with Special Olympics,

I've got all my medals.

Autism means to me

a different way of thinking.

I am not broken.

I have a different perspective

on the world.

I think we need more journalists

with autism out there

to hear our perspective

and know what we can do.

Alright. Silas.

Alright.

Had you heard of Adam Goodes before?

UmI knew who he was

Right.

..but I didn't know who he was.

And are you a sporting person?

No, I'm anti sport.

We need to stop it immediately.

(LAUGHS)

It's super interesting to watch

the students' progress.

They are getting better at working

out how to come up with questions.

I love this bunny that you've drawn.

If you're interested in art,

Adam Goodes

Somebody painted a portrait of him

for the Archibald Prize.

He's actually had to pose, and an

artist has done a painting of him.

And then for others, I think

it's more to do with confidence.

Got heaps of good stuff there,

Jackson, to work with. Well done.

So it's just It's really lovely.

So you're a Swans fan.

Yeah.

Is there anything specific

to ask about

..being a fan,

about being a Swans fan?

There's a very big kind of, like,

sense of community.

The fans can be very passionate.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

MAN: Whoo-hoo!

I've only just started watching

AFL live.

My partner and his family

really like AFL,

and it kind of gives me, like,

a way to bond with them.

It's also very kind of, like,

atmospheric in a way.

Kind of, like, you're sharing

this one kind of big thing

with, like, a whole bunch

of other people.

OK. You ready?

One. Two. Three.

No! Oh, no.

I'll do it to you, Fletcher. Ready?

Oh. Good catch.

Yay!

I feel really excited

to interview Adam.

I think we'll get

some interesting answers.

There's 20 seconds on the clock.

We're down by one point.

We need a goal to win.

Come on!

But anything can happen

in these interviews, so we'll see.

ALL: (CHANT) Jackson! Jackson!

Jackson! Jackson!

Oh, my God!

Oh, no!

(ALL LAUGH)

Shoots and scores.

Oh, Belinda's got to fix me up

'cause I've been into them.

Into the Monte Carlos.

MAN: Are you first up?

It's Dale today first.

WOMAN: Oh, OK.

How are you going?

I'm good. How are you?

Good. Thank you for coming in.

Thanks for having me.

You're going to have a ball,

I reckon.

This is a nice audience, isn't it?

Hey?

Alright, everyone,

let's get ready to jump into it.

Stephanie, would you like

to kick us off

and give our inclusion statement?

WOMAN: Thank you.

This is a safe space.

Everyone can relax

and be themselves.

You can fidget, move around,

and take breaks if you need.

Please do what you need to join in.

There will be no judgement.

Thank you.

Thanks, Steph.

Do you want to pass the mike to Dale?

Thank you.

Hello, Adam.

This is actually a cool moment

because my dad also met you

many years ago in Sydney.

This is kind of generational

meeting you.

Making me feel very young.

Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

It was actually last week. Sorry.

Oh. That's OK.

Yeah, yeah.

You've mentioned in a few articles

that your mum is your biggest

role model in life.

My mum is also my biggest

role model,

and she has taught me

many great life lessons in life.

What is something that your mum

taught you

that you still use to this day?

Yeah, the biggest thing for me that,

you know, my mum has taught me

is to be kind,

and that is, even at the heart of,

you know,

being in the worst

possible situations,

you still being kind really shows

who you are as a person.

I think that's really important.

We all can get tired, angry,

frustrated.

Even in those moments,

you can still bring kindness.

And I think that's really important.

I'm really grateful for my mum

being able to

teach me and show me

the importance of that.

100%. Mums know best and to

For them to teach you young is like

the best thing they can do for you.

You once said in a quote, that

"the football field is a place

where I could express myself

"and just be me."

You've now retired from AFL

and you don't go

on a football field anymore.

Where is that place for you now?

Yeah, it's a really good question.

So I'm very lucky.

Retiring from football,

you know, I could do anything

that I wanted to be.

I founded and started

an Indigenous business,

and we work with other Indigenous

businesses, over 140 of those.

And I absolutely love

the work that I do.

And that gives me a place

to keep my culture strong.

But more importantly, it gives me

an opportunity to do something

that a lot of First Nations people

haven't had the opportunity to do,

and that's create wealth

through business.

And that, to me, is something

that can really change the way that,

from a self-determination point

of view for Indigenous Australians,

the way that we contribute to,

you know, mainstream Australia,

but more importantly,

contribute to uplifting ourselves.

Thank you so much

for answering that question.

And thank you.

Thanks, Dale.

(APPLAUSE)

Angus.

Oh, gosh, I've never been

MAN: Here you go, Angie boy.

(WOMAN LAUGHS)

Thanks, Fletchy boy. Hi, Adam.

Hey, Angus.

Firstly, congrats on being

the first guest on the show

who is taller than

Andrew and Bethany.

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah.

WOMAN: Oh! Oh.

It's close.

Back to back! Back to back!

I do have my heels on today, though.

WOMAN: You and Andrew

are just, just

Oh, wow.

I feel small.

Actually, it was closer than

I thought between you two, so

(LAUGHS) OK.

Um, if AFL didn't exist,

is there any other sport you believe

you could have gone pro in?

I love playing mixed netball.

Same! No way!

Yeah.

Yeah, I did. It was so much fun.

But if sport wasn't going to be

where I ended up,

I really wanted to be an architect.

WOMAN: Oh, wow.

I did two weeks work experience

in Year 10.

Unfortunately,

they didn't motivate me.

I learnt how to make coffees,

lick envelopes, um,

which waswhich was pretty sad,

but something that

I'm really proud of

is that passion of mine

has not gone away.

Um, and recently I helped build

and design our family home,

which we moved into a year ago.

So I was able to, you know,

do the things I wanted to.

But, um, you know,

there's always those sliding door

moments in our lives

that, you know, you could have done

this, could have went that way.

But, you know, I'm really happy

with the choices I've made.

It's been a goodes path to take.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks, Adam.

Thanks, Angus.

Stephanie, would you like to ask

your questions?

Hello.

Hi.

As we all know,

each game can be different.

When you have a bad game,

how do you stay on the field

and talk to the fans

and journalists?

I never have a bad game, Stephanie.

(LAUGHTER)

What are you talking about?

You got any games in particular

you're talking about there,

journalist?

Just like this group here,

this is a team.

And what I love about

playing a team sport is that,

you know, when we lose,

I can blame everybody else.

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah.

No. The thing about team sports

and being in a team

is that you have to play your role.

And I'm the first person

to put up my hand and say,

"I didn't play my role.

I let the team down."

And that's what would drive me

the next training session,

the next game.

And that was the best thing about

professional sport,

or playing any sport,

that even though you might have had

the worst game on Saturday,

there's another game coming up

on Friday or Saturday or Sunday,

you've got another opportunity

to do something positive about it,

and that starts

on the training track

and sometimes it starts

by acknowledging

I played bad, but that's OK.

OK. Do you have any unconventional

or strange snack pairings?

Oh. Do you?

Well, I used to enjoy, um, uh,

ketchup on mac and cheese,

might get me in trouble.

Ooh No.

As long as you're doing it

behind closed doors, you can do

(LAUGHTER)

You can do whatever you like.

So I like to get

double-coated Tim Tams.

MAN: Oh, yeah.

Bite a little corner off the top.

And then eat the whole bottom of it.

And then glass of milk.

Yes.

Suck Suck that through

until it's nice and soft

and then slowly eat it.

Tim Tam Slam.

Is that what you call it?

There's a name for it?

There's an actual name for it.

Oh, wow. Damn. I've been doing that.

What else do I love? So

Don't tell anyone.

This is the most un-Australian thing

I'm going to say today.

I love Promite.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

I do love Vegemite.

Where's the camera?

I do love Vegemite.

Um

Vegemite.

But it's not as

I don't use it as diversely

as I do my Promite.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming today.

Thanks, Stephanie.

It's been a pleasure.

You're amazing.

Here you go.

Thanks.

Adam Goodes,

I have a first question.

Do you want your kids

to play football?

I would love my

I would love my children to do

whatever they want to do, Dylan.

If that's AFL, netball, chess,

dancing, whatever it might be,

I think I want them

to try everything,

and for them to figure it out

themselves.

Mm-hm.

Do you think you are hot?

(LAUGHTER)

I feelI feel very hot today.

I feel like a lot of people

are looking at me

and it could make me feel

a little bit warmer.

Is that what you meant?

Yes.

(LAUGHS)

Yeah, yeah.

Dare I ask, Dylan?

Do you think I'm hot?

Yep.

(LAUGHTER)

It is hot in here, isn't it?

Yeah, I know.

That makes me real blushy.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you for that question, Dylan.

Evie, it's your turn,

if you'd like to ask your questions

of Adam.

WOMAN: Come on, Evie, you can do it.

I believe in you.

Um, I don't know how

I'm gonna live up to that.

Um

Uh, OK, so my first question, um

What was school like for you

as an Indigenous person?

So my mum, she was part of

the Stolen Generation,

so she was taken away

when she was five

and put into a white family

in Adelaide,

so we lost the clear connect

of culture,

connection to language, customs, and

really where our people came from.

As Mum got older,

she was slowly introduced

to her brothers and sisters.

So Mum was one of ten.

So my early childhood

and teenage life

was about meeting and moving

to see them.

So I went to six different

primary schools

and three different high schools.

So as you can imagine, going

to different schools can be tough,

and being Indigenous can be

even tougher, doing that.

But we always did it with my two

younger brothers and always my mum,

so that's what made it a lot easier.

And I think what made it easier

for me too, Evie,

was that me and my brothers,

we just love playing sports.

So anytime a ball came out,

you know,

we could run, we could jump,

we could kick it.

And that really helped break down

the barriers for us to,

in a way, be accepted

into those schools and communities

where we were.

But, you know, I look back

at my schooling life now

and I loved it.

I got to be around my friends.

I got to learn so much.

I was challenged, I was challenged

quite a lot, in the classroom.

But I think those challenges

helped me for the

..the challenges of life

that we're in now.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

Thank you, Evie.

Hello, Adam Goodes.

Have you ever tried dot painting?

I did it at high school

and it's very relaxing.

Press, press, press.

Yes, yes. Press, press, press.

I haveI have tried

dot painting, Savanna.

I enjoyed it.

I thought I made lots of mistakes,

but what I love about being creative

is

The mistakes, actually, are

what makes the painting great.

Um, I did a lot of dot painting

on footballs, on AFL footballs,

which we would then sell

for charity, for my foundation,

but it was something

that my mum taught me.

Mum used painting as a way to relax,

but more importantly,

a way for her to reconnect

withwith her culture,

being an Aboriginal woman.

Out of all of your awkward moments,

what is the most awkward moment

you've ever had?

Oh, do you have any

Do you have any awkward moments

for me that come to mind?

I just have to remember them,

and I'm not scared to tell them.

Yes. OK.

Well, maybemaybe

I'll take that question back.

Um

MAN: You go, girl.

So in 2006, we lost the grand final

to the West Coast Eagles,

and we lost by a point.

And when the siren went, and the MCG

with 100,000 people watching,

I was so heartbroken that we lost

that I just was bawling my eyes out.

I was soso shattered

that we'd lost the grand final.

And I cried probably

for about 15 minutes.

And I think back at that now

A long time to cry.

..and it makes me

a little bit awkward

because a lot of my mates still send

me memes of me crying like that,

which are quite

which I find funny.

It's OK. I can laugh at myself

as well.

It wasn't too traumatic for me,

but I look back at it and go,

maybe I didn't need to cry

for as long as I did,

but at that moment it was

That was my whole world.

My whole world was about

winning premierships

and I just missed out on

winning another one by one point,

and that was really hard for me.

Have you ever ridden a horse

in the outback at sunset or sunrise?

Or on a beach?

Could be on a beach. Have you

ridden one on a beach instead?

I have, I have ridden one

on a beach, actually, in Broome.

I've ridden camels up there.

Oh, nice.

Very, very cute.

Thank you, Savanna.

Fletcher, you're up next.

You used to play your soccer, right?

I'm having a little bit of trouble

controlling my breathing

every time I get the ball and steal

the ball going into the goals.

How do you control your breathing

after all that running around

when you play sports?

Because I really need some advice.

One thing that really helps me

with my breathing

is I like to meditate.

So even when we're just sitting

here now, I'm a little bit nervous,

but I relax myself

with my deep breathing.

So every time before I answer,

I take a (INHALES) ..deep breath,

and that helps relax me

a little bit.

And one thing

when I was at training,

I always used this little trick that

when I was playing sport,

I would (INHALES)

Every time I inhaled,

I was inhaling courage.

And then every time I exhale

(EXHALES) ..I was

..I was letting go of all the fear

that I had in my body,

and that just really relaxed me.

And hopefully that helps you.

Thank you.

You would love to laugh.

And I love to laugh a LOT!

(LAUGHTER)

Can you tell us about

what makes you laugh?

I think what really makes me laugh

now is my children.

I have three young children.

Adelaide, who's nearly five,

Otis is two,

and Leroy, who just turned one.

And every time that I go

into their rooms in the morning

and they're a little bit sleepy,

and I wake them up,

and they always put a smile on their

face, and that just makes me laugh,

because I'm the first person that

they get to see to start the day,

and it makes me really happy.

So

Aw

..and they always do silly things

that make me laugh as well.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So thank you. Thank you very much.

No, thank you.

Thanks, Fletcher.

(APPLAUSE)

Hello, Adam.

Um, if you could make any food

the national dish of Australia,

what would it be?

Oh, that's really good. Have

you ever tried a witchetty grub?

No, but I actually want to,

because I watched a video about it,

and I was like,

they actually look good.

I've never tried it either,

so maybe we should try something

A national dish. You know what?

So

I'm a sucker for a lamington,

I have to say.

Lamingtons,

they're already up there.

The meat pie. It's already up there.

You know, I'm as Aussie

as you can get.

I love those things. Yeah.

Yeah. Lovely. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you.

Jackson, you're up next.

Thank you.

G'day.

Hey, Jackson.

I stand up for myself

when people are mean to me,

or when they treat me

like I'm different.

What's it like standing up

for yourself

and teaching people

to stand up to racism?

Mm. It's hard to stand up

for yourself.

Um, it really is.

But I always was taught, you know,

by my mum,

that nobody else is going

to stand up for you,

so you do it for yourself.

And sometimes standing up

for yourself is actually

literally just standing up

and walking away.

And for me, for a long period

of time, that was the way

that I was able to stand up for

myself, was to extract myself

from a very toxic situation

until I had the courage

and confidence,

but more importantly, the words

to articulate

how they were making me feel

and to also challenge them

on what they were saying.

Mm.

Now, that's brave.

Thank you, Jackson.

Anastasia, it's your go.

Thank you.

Alright, alright. Hello? Yeah. Hi.

(LAUGHS)

I play soccer,

like when you were a kid.

And there's someone there

that annoys me a lot.

Did anyone annoy you

when you were playing soccer,

and what did you do about it?

Yeah, I kicked them in the shins.

(LAUGHTER)

That's what I was

No, I didn't!

Good on you.

I didn't do that.

It was an accident.

(LAUGHTER)

No, I think the best thing about

playing sports is

when somebody is doing that

and annoying you,

they're doing that because

you're a really good player

and they're really trying

to get you off your game.

It does actually

If I think about it, it does

actually make kind of great sense.

Yeah, it does, because

that's what they're trying to do.

They're trying to stop you

from doing that.

So the best thing you can actually

do is keep doing what you're doing.

Mm. Um

No, that onethat one's

just too weird.

I'll be the judge of that.

(LAUGHS) UmOK. Um, OK.

My next question is,

what is your favourite dance move?

ALL: Oh!

Dance move.

Are you a dancer?

Yeah, I am.

See

Oh! Look out! Hey!

WOMAN: Go, Anastasia!

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

I can't compete with that.

Yeah, I think my favourite dance

move that I've ever done was

..with my wife,

and we did the Dirty Dancing one

when she ran at me

and I lifted her up.

Do you want to try?

(ALL EXCLAIM)

(LAUGHS)

I'm joking, I'm joking.

I haven't

Oh, I see, I see

(LAUGHS) Yeah.

Oh, my goodness. OK.

Do I ask another question?

If you want to.

OK.

Um, when you pass away, do you think

you'll meet your mum there?

ALL: Aw

II definitely will.

So we had a special ceremony

for Mum.

She wanted to be cremated.

We, then, a year later, we asked

the council down in South Australia

if we could release Mum's ashes

off the jetty at Glenelg.

So my brothers and I, we jumped

in the water and we swam out about,

oh, about 50m from the jetty

and had a special ceremony,

us three boys there.

And then we let Mum go and then

we could slowly see it drift away

and it was really special.

Um, have you guys seen Moana?

Yes. Moana 2 teaser trailer

just came out.

I know.

I'm so excited for that movie

to come out!

So a very special moment happened

that when we were swimming back

and about to climb up the stairs

Remember when Moana's grandma

passes away,

and then you see the spirit

go through the air

and then dive into the water

as a stingray?

So as we are coming back

to the stairs,

this beautiful stingray comes

swimming up underneath us.

And we were just like, wow.

There's Mum just saying goodbye to

us and that she's going to be OK.

So that was pretty cool.

So, yes, I hope that I do.

And I will be going to see Mum,

A little bit later, though.

Anastasia.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

I'm in no rush.

We're not doing this now.

(APPLAUSE)

Thanks, Anastasia.

Oh, OK. Um

Your player for the Sydney Swans

at the time was number 37.

Is there a story behind you

being number 37,

and what does the number 37

mean to you?

Yeah, I was actually 37

when I was drafted.

Oh.

No, I'm just joking.

(LAUGHTER)

That would have been

That would have been pretty cool.

I was actually 17 when I was drafted

to the Sydney Swans

straight out of high school, I know,

so they assigned me number 37

when I first got there.

And what was really exciting

about that was

when I stood in front of my locker,

there was only one person's name

on the locker,

and that name was Bert Lucas.

And to get your name on the locker,

you had to achieve certain things

throughout your career.

Play 100 games,

you get your name on the locker.

Win a Brownlow Medal,

you get your name on the locker.

If you win a premiership,

you get your name on the locker.

So all of those things meant that

you could get your name

on the locker.

And I thought I wanted to get

my name as the second person ever

on number 37.

So I decided to keep it, Mitch.

Yeah, great number as well.

Not by Not just because

you played for them,

but by the way, do you like

the actual swan birds?

Like, do you like real swans?

Oh, I love that question, Mitch.

So, growing up as

a Aboriginal person,

I actually didn't know that

how I was connected to my people

or where my tribe was from.

So when I was reconnected back

to my Adnyamathanha ancestry,

the Black Swan totem

was gifted to me.

And that was after being playing

at the Swans for nearly 10 years.

So that was the totem

that was gifted to me.

So I do love swans.

I think they're so beautiful

and elegant.

Just don't go near them when they've

got theirtheir babies around.

They can be quite aggressive.

Yeah. Same with magpies.

Oh, yes. We don't like magpies.

(LAUGHTER)

WOMAN: No, we don't like

the magpies.

MAN: Collingwood, boo.

Um, what's the weirdest thing

you've had to sign?

One person asked me to sign

a mouthguard,

and I, like, I was signing

the mouthguard.

I was like,

whose mouthguard is this?

And they said,

"This is one of your old ones."

And I was like, what?

(LAUGHTER)

Where did you

Where did you get that from?

And I was like, signing it going,

"This is really weird."

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

What is your favourite thing

about yourself?

Ooh. Dylan, what's my favourite

thing about

(LAUGHTER)

Is it my eyes?

Your eyes.

Yeah, it's the eyes.

I think what I, um, really love

about myself, Abbey,

is the colour of my skin.

Mmm.

Because it is different

to a lot of people.

But also there was times in my life

where I wasn't happy

with the colour of my skin.

So every time that I see myself

and I see that I'm different,

it reminds me of how proud I am

to be different.

Mmm.

Versus the times in my life where

this was used to single me out

for being different.

So I think now being proud

of something that was

at a certain point in my life

negative,

something that

I'm super proud about,

and um, yeah, really excited

to, you know,

keep wearing that

as a badge of honour.

MAN: Aw.

What is something

on your bucket list?

Ooh.

One thing about playing

professional sport

was I had to make a lot of

sacrifices during that time.

Sacrifices, seeing family, going to

friends' weddings, funerals.

I wasn't able to travel around

the world when I wanted.

I could only ever travel

at the end of a football season.

So the bucket list for me now

having children, Abbey,

is to take them to Disneyland.

That's on my bucket list.

Maybe we can go together.

Oh, you never know.

(APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHS)

Chau, it's your go.

CHAU: My turn.

I'll stay seated. I'll stay seated.

A lot of time autistic people

are often picked last for sport.

Sometimes not picked at all.

What advice do you give

for people who are autistic

and want to play sport?

You know, I'd talk about

our football club,

we would always have to pick teams,

and I made it my passion that

always the people that were picked

last at our football club for teams,

I would pick them first.

WOMAN: Oh.

Um

Because I was always that person

at the new school that I went to

that was picked last.

And it feels It feels crap,

doesn't it? You know?

You know, it feels crap

to be picked last.

But one thing I always make sure

that if I was picked last

is that I tried so hard.

And more importantly,

you're doing it to have fun.

So don't let,

if people pick you last,

stop you from having a good time

or stop you from even playing

at all.

Because whether they pick you or not

doesn't matter.

You want to go out there

and have fun? You do that.

And that's what we're all

here to do, is have fun.

Yeah.

Uh. Hell yeah.

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

Thank you. Silas.

Hello. Uh

You have quite a large statue

of yourself.

Do you think you'll ever

make something

that will outlast that statue?

(LAUGHS)

Hopefully, my family bloodline

is the answer there,

but I would love to think that

the GO Foundation

and the work that we do

is something that could surpass

that bronze statue.

You know what? It's ridiculous, man.

I have a bronze statue of myself,

you know, doing a w*r cry dance.

But it's pretty special.

I remember being asked, "Would you

like to be part of this series

"that we're doing in creating?"

I was like, no.

Like, it's not something that

I think I want.

After a few more conversations, I

was like, "Can I choose what pose?"

You know, I don't want to just

be doing a marking pose

or a kicking pose.

I wanted to do something that really

symbolised what I did in my career.

And that was standing up,

being really clear about who I am

as an Aboriginal person,

and using every opportunity I could

to celebrate that.

And I think that w*r cry,

that dance,

really celebrates who I am

as a person,

but also me standing up

against racism as well.

So, that would be amazing if it did.

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Andrew, it's your turn.

I love plants.

What type of plants do you have

in your garden?

Oh, good question, Andrew.

I've got lots oflots of natives.

Um, we have the lemon myrtle

up on my balcony.

I've got this massive big hole

in my courtyard,

which I want to put

a beautiful big tree.

And I'm not sure what native

I might want to do.

OK. Yes.

But the biggest thing that I love,

that you can't go past,

and we've got them in all

the colours, are the kangaroo paws.

Oh, they're beautiful, aren't they?

Yeah. They're so amazing.

Oh, thank you, Adam.

I've got one more question for you.

If you could go back and

change one thing in your life,

what would you change and why?

Ooh. You know what?

Some people go, oh, would you go

back and stop that moment

where you pointed out

to the 14-year-old girl, you know,

who racially vilified you?

And I said, "Well, if I did that,

and that didn't happen,

"then where I am today

is completely different."

Because what I did that night

was I stood up against racism

in that moment.

And then a year later I was

announced Australian of the Year.

Yeah. Congratulations on that.

Thank you, Andrew.

That would have been amazing.

It was amazing.

Thank you.

And what happened

during that process was

the producer of one of the, um,

production companies

who was filming me for the three

months of the profile piece,

um, we became quite friends.

Oh, good on you.

And to the point, now that

she's birthed three of my children,

and she's my wife.

That's really good.

Um, so if I

If I didn't stand up in that moment,

I may not have ever met her,

and I may not be where I am.

So when people ask me the question,

if I could go back, I always say

I wouldn't go back

to change anything.

But if I could go back

to my younger self,

I would put my hand on my shoulder

and say,

"Everything will turn out alright."

That's good.

Um, you know, I'm very grateful

for the decisions,

good and bad, that I've made,

because it's made me who I am.

That's right.

Thank you very much, Adam.

It's been a great interviewing you.

Thanks, Andrew.

Thank you.

And on behalf of The Assembly

here today,

thank you so much for coming, Adam.

And I've got a gift to give to you.

Oh!

(ALL CHATTER)

What is it? Oh!

I would like to say

you can have this in the honour

of coming on The Assembly for us.

It is an Australian native plant,

a grevillea.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, my goodness, this is beautiful.

And the colour pink will work

very nicely in the front garden.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Does everyone want to give Adam

another big round of applause

to say thank you very much?

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

ALL: (CHANT) Adam! Adam! Adam! Adam!

Adam! Adam! Adam!

What did you think, everyone?

WOMAN: Beautiful.

He's lovely, isn't he?

He's such a nice man.

The questions were all really good

today, everyone. It was awesome.

MAN: Oh, thank you.

Yeah.

Whose is this?

Um, my dad's.

Premiership year.

Hey! AFL fan!

WOMAN: Yay!

That was so good, though.

I'm so happy with how that went.

MAN: He was genuinely really nice.

Beautiful.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Abbey.

You would not have been able

to tell me

I was going to meet you

and be able to chat with you.

It was really cool.

It's amazing what happens.

Life's pretty crazy curveballs

it can throw at us.

Yeah, right.

Well done, you guys.

Even just putting your hand up,

being courageous enough to do this

is prettyit's pretty amazing.

It's been a lot.

Advice for you

Don't wash it.

Exactly.

Never wash it again!

MAN: Alright. Are we ready?

Looking down the lens and smiling.

(CAMERA SNAPS)

WOMAN: Who wants to do

a group selfie with Adam Goodes?

OK.

Our next guest is someone

who's a very experienced

television presenter.

ALL: Ooh!

She's hosted a very successful

top-rating radio program

for the past 18 years.

She's had a really long career

of about 40 years.

She's very funny.

It is Amanda Keller.

ALL: Ooh!

WOMAN: Oh, my God.

My mum loves her.

WOMAN: I love her too.

Well, hello.

It's actually her.

They didn't send in the android.

What inspired you

to write an autobiography?

What point do you go like, "Oh, I've

done so much. I can write this"?

To be honest, when you put it like

that, I do sound like a w*nk*r.

What are the last sounds

you'd like to hear in life?

Mmm.

What are some snap judgements

people make about you

that are totally off the mark?

Would you like to answer that one

for me?

Uh, nope.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks for the help, Fletchy boy.