“One hundred per cent,” Addo-Carr said, when asked if he would continue to shine a spotlight on abuse in a bid to stamp it out.

Addo-Carr took great pride in recreating St Kilda great Nicky Winmar’s famous jersey-lifting gesture, which was splashed across the back pages of two Sydney newspapers last week. But unlike Winmar, who endured racist attacks from the grandstands, the current generation of Indigenous players have to also contend with online slurs.

“Back then they didn’t have social media,” Addo-Carr said. “He was in the forefront, it happened in person to him. For [our generation], it’s easy to get online and be racist. We’ve got strong leadership within the Indigenous NRL boys. We have each other’s back …

“You never hear it to your face. Ever since I have been playing rugby league, it has been an everyday thing.”

The man affectionately dubbed “The Fox” believes the All Stars fixtures have a role to play in stamping out racism. While the threat of Omicron has limited the players’ ability to spend time in the community before the match, the former Storm star believes the game can send positive messages.

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“No one is born a racist, you are taught it,” he said. “It’s just educating younger generations to show we are a beautiful culture. We are human, like everyone else. It’s about educating about a culture that was taken away from us. We have it on the big stage now where we can show everyone how beautiful our culture is and how much it means to us.

“For myself and everyone here, we love coming here and learning about your tribe and where you’re from. You don’t learn that at all at school. It’s to show younger kids, go out there and learn your language, go out and learn dance.

“It’s all to inspire the next generation and to teach non-Indigenous people too. It’s a win-win for us all.”

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