Aboriginal AFL star Adam Goodes has lost count of the number of times he has suffered racist abuse in his life and football career, and sometimes it still happens.

But one number will be firmly in his mind when he marks the AFL's Indigenous Round this weekend by playing his 200th consecutive game for the Sydney Swans.

Goodes, 28, will become just the fourth player in the history of the game to play that many senior games in succession when he runs out against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

The occasion and venue could not be more appropriate for the two-time Brownlow medallist, whose people are the Adnyamathanha, from the nearby Flinders Ranges.

Just as he marked his 100th game in Adelaide, which he shared with more than 100 family members at the ground, Goodes will reach a rare milestone surrounded by family, including team mate and cousin Michael O'Loughlin.

Missing, however, will be Goodes's mother Lisa May, a Stolen Generation survivor who was taken from her mother at a young age and never saw her again.

"She'll be in country Victoria unfortunately," Goodes said.

"She'll be watching me on TV and she'll be giving me a call before and after the game so I can let her know how I went."

Goodes, a board member on the National Indigenous Council, is proud of his position as an Aboriginal role model, and proud to be a standard-bearer for his people this weekend.

"For the AFL to be recognising those people before us and the players who are playing now gives indigenous people a lot of pride, myself included, that there is a whole round dedicated to us," he said.

"That's pretty special. We still live in a country were Aboriginal people aren't seen at a very high level, and to be able to represent the 10 per cent of AFL players who are indigenous is fantastic."

A total of 189 indigenous players have played AFL or VFL senior football, and of those 72 are currently on lists, representing 10 per cent of AFL players.

The AFL calculates that there are 87,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders playing Australian football at some level.

In this match, at least, Goodes will feel a degree of solidarity with his opponents, of whom six are Aboriginal.

As Goodes wrote in his chapter on indigenous football in a recent volume marking the AFL's 150th anniversary, Aboriginality "is not about a map, not a town or a community you can stick a pin into and say `that's home', because it is not about a place. We all come from different places and different experiences, yet we come from the same place inside.

"What we have is a knowledge. A culture. And an understanding borne of being different in skin colour, which in Australia means far more off the football field."

Goodes, whose form has improved after a sluggish start to the season, is understandably keen to acquit himself well this week, and says he will only celebrate his milestone if the team has a win.

"I've just got to keep a clear mind and go into the game thinking about the things I normally do," he said.

"The way I'm running and moving, there's still a lot of areas I need to work on.

"My skill efficiency at the moment is really poor. I'm getting a lot of the ball but I'm not using it as effectively as I'd like to."

For his streak, Goodes paid tribute to the fitness and medical staff at the Swans.

"Everything they do to protect the body I really buy into," he said.

"I'll just keep doing those little things - ice baths, stretching, extra yoga sessions, spas, compression socks, just to make sure my body's right going into every game and I can play the best I can every week.

"Two hundred in a row is an amazing effort. I've only ever missed two games since I started playing first grade."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP