Darcy Moore is athletically tall, hair whiter than his skin, a third-generation academic, the beneficiary of privileged private schooling and at the heart of his footy, the son of a club champion that has famously stuck side-by-side with Collingwood.

Entwined into the fabric of the club's inner sanctum, Moore's childhood was filled full of kick to kick with then coach Mick Malthouse ahead of that day's matches while the dressing rooms were shut to everyone else.

Like calling Peter Moore - the 1979 and 1984 dual Brownlow Medallist - his dad isn't enough.

That entitled background hardly is the kind of upbringing that relates to the reality of daily life for many Indigenous people, but the 203cm defender is standing up to fight against racism.

Confronting an ugly chapter in the club's past culminated off Collingwood's Do Better report back in 2021 when its external authors openly criticised several aspects of the club's long-standing culture.

That was accentuated when Eddie McGuire slipped into a cultural faux pas when his poor choice of words described the club's racist admission of fault a "proud" day.

The language from the media star was condemned when the implications of the term proud to Aboriginal people relates to their mob and how their identity has survived.

But two years later behind a new administration, there is a different face controlling the narrative for Collingwood.

The current captain is not reluctant in fronting his teammates following the thought-provoking report into systematic racism and the attitudes that had rotted inside the walls of the club, right through to the very core of its Magpies' brand.

For Moore, the starting point came about after reading the accounts of the enigmatic Leon Davis during his time at the club.

"Reading his story of his experiences for me was particularly difficult - I mean I grew up idolising him," he told The Age.

The proud Ballardong Whadjuk Yuat Yamatji man walked out on the club after an All-Australian season, but despite news reports the goalsneak was asked to take a 30 per cent pay cut, he kept the reasons to himself.

The most worrying concern was that Davis had threatened to walk out multiple times during his 225 matches for Collingwood before finally quitting but not long before the 2010 premiership star nominated for the AFL draft weeks later.

Davis has detailed several incidents in an interview once that included arriving at the famous club months earlier only to confront offensive answers written out for an AFL questionnaire that his guilty, new teammates left by his bag next to the locker.

The culprits were punished, but the consequence of the actions had Davis now feeling excluded by the players for most of that inaugural season.

That has slowly turned around since the report was released and the club understood the recommendations better just as Moore knew that one of his idols always carried a passion - in time once mental scars had healed - for the club and most teammates.

"So, to hear him explain his experiences and speak about how he felt at Collingwood really was quite jarring to me," Moore said.

"To have him back now and helping us work towards a better future (from the report) is really quite exciting."

Moore's altruistic ways expanded further this year to speaking at the much-publicised healing ceremony that tried to right the wrongs of one dark day at Victoria Park.

The time that a parochial Victoria Park crowd infamously fell on St Kilda hero Nicky Winmar after lifting his guernsey and bravely pointing to the colour of his Aboriginal skin in response to vile comments that emerged from its stands.

That's where the 27-year-old acknowledges that his beloved Magpies were not on the right side of history.

But there was a slight hesitation to attend the commemoration of the date despite that fans returning 30 years on were there to make amends for the deplorable behaviour.

Only after consulting the victim did Moore's conscious awaken, and the leader of the Collingwood faithful delivered a speech at the will of a forgiving Winmar.

"Seeing the young ones here today just really inspires me to keep working towards a shared future where we can all walk together in strength and solidarity," Moore said.

On the day that Moore was honouring Winmar, it was Moore who felt honoured to be in the presence of Winmar after all the strength the Noongar man went on to display.

Moore repeated that sentiment more confidently days later during a pre-game ritual at the Adelaide Oval at the aptly-named AFL Gather Round on Kauna country.

He learned that strong leaders have to journey to some tough places in tough times because Indigenous players have since Joe Johnson first ran out for Fitzroy in 1904.

"To be part of that (night) and to see the emotion," Moore said, "and how raw it is for him still was a reminder about the deep scar racism leaves."