Emma Palandri and David Pocock. Credit:Rohan Thomson When some think of Pocock, though, they think of another footballer. Comparisons with Adam Goodes are easily made, because they are both footballers with something to say. "Goodsey?" says Pocock of the maligned Swans champion. "That poor bloke. He's had a tough couple of weeks. I won't pretend to know what he's going through. What he's going through is amplified to some crazy number in terms of whatever controversy I've gone through. As a fellow athlete, it's been sad to see. It's been great to see the support he's had, from all sporting teams. But it's a lot for one athlete to shoulder. "I don't know the intricacies of it all, but from my experience of the homophobic slur thing, where it was an incident that was brought up by three different players [on the field], and it came up that I was driving an agenda ... To me, it was a split-second decision to say, 'That's not right'. When I hear people say that Goodsey is just driving an agenda, or using it for political gain, is wrong. Sport is at its best when it's inclusive, when it's allowing people who don't have that opportunity in society to express themselves to feel comfortable. It's giving them the opportunity to do that." Pocock tells you this late on Thursday afternoon at the team hotel in Coogee after a Wallabies training session ahead of the Bledisloe Cup opener against the All Blacks at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

We've got half an hour to talk. Time's short. There's a sponsor's commitment in the city to get to. And Pocock has a story to tell. So we can ask him about his two knee reconstructions, the journey back, the highs, the lows, the doubts, the dazzling season with the Brumbies, the stunning comeback to the Wallabies against the Springboks and Argentina, and all his hopes and dreams for this World Cup. We can talk about how he and Hooper are going to dismantle the most impressive back row in world rugby. But, to be perfectly honest, football seems like a footnote. What interests most about this footballer isn't football at all – just like it's not about football when it comes to the footballer who is Adam Goodes. Pocock will lock on to coal mining equipment at Maules Creek in northern NSW in protest, ending in arrest and court appearances; he will call out homophobic comments from Waratahs forward Jacques Potgieter during a match for the Brumbies, informing the referee and not backing down from the complaint when others would; he will publicly call out Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "ideology and prime ministership without even touching on his government, the cruelty to refugees and his use of fear as a political tool". Pocock contrasts wildly with the modern-day professional athlete, who has a manager wringing out every single possible cent on offer, and a media adviser who will tell him to say everything but nothing, and a coach who would prefer to see his player seen but not heard.

"Or seen in a particular way," adds Pocock, "as long as you adhere to a certain notion of masculinity, or toe some sort of corporate athlete line, you're sweet." Like Goodes, Pocock wants to have the uncomfortable conversations that others don't want to have, let alone hear from a footballer. "My experience of sport was that it was somewhere where nothing else mattered," he says, referring to his childhood in Zimbabwe, which he fled with his family as a 12-year-old because of the government-sanctioned violence ravishing the country. "Moving to Australia, as a kid with white skin but a different accent, I didn't really fit in to start, but sport provided me with that in. Once I got on the rugby field, I could hold my own. I could have a good time. "I compare that to a black Zimbabwean friend in Canberra. His experience was so different just because of his skin colour. He said to me, growing up in Zimbabwe that race was never really an issue at school. He was never racially called anything. His experience playing school rugby in Canberra, every game he'd be called something. Even his mates at school, the casual racism ... They'd say, 'C'mon mate, just joking'."

"It is important that people are getting those conversations, just around the language that we use. Some people say it's petty and childish, and to get over it, I really think that language is important. The thing with the race stuff is that so many white people have opinions about whether Australians are or aren't racist. To me, ask people who aren't white. They're the ones who know." The simple power of language prompted Pocock to complain about Potgieter's use of the word "faggot" during a Brumbies match against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium earlier this year. A predictable public debate was sparked about what happens on the field staying on the field, about what really constitutes homophobia, and whether Pocock was grandstanding. The incident came just over a month after Pocock and his partner Emma had escaped conviction in Gunnedah Local Court after pleading guilty to entering enclosed land. On November 30 last year, the 27-year-old was one of seven protesters who chained themselves to a super digger belonging to Whitehaven Coal. One of them was fifth-generation Maules Creek farmer Rick Laird, who sat alongside Pocock for more than 10 hours.

A passionate climate change activist, Pocock had made his point loud and clear, but after the court appearance he wanted to focus on football. The last headline Pocock was chasing was about a homophobic slur being delivered on the field. "I'll be honest, I was down after the whole Waratahs thing," he says of the incident involving Potgieter. "I really had decided that I wanted to focus on rugby, after all the Maules Creeks stuff, and then appearing in court. "The way [the Potgieter incident] blew up ... People were accusing me of driving an agenda. If your agenda is to make sport more inclusive, then sure. It's not a bad agenda to have. At the time, I'm not thinking, 'How will this play out in the next few weeks?' We have to allow athletes to be people, and have different views outside of rugby or whatever sport they play." Having strong views beyond the boundaries of sport requires resilience. His stance on homophobia that afternoon against the Waratahs sent social media into meltdown, just as Goodes not playing for a week after being booed by West Coast Eagles fans in Perth had similarly done. "With privilege comes responsibility," Pocock says. "When you look around Australia, there are lots of issues here, and not everyone is doing well, but as a country we're incredibly wealthy and privileged. We have a huge responsibility to help countries that aren't.

"The thing that I remember with social media is that people say stuff on there that they would never say to your face. For me, it does get people talking and it leads to conversations: whether that's at home with me and my family, or friends, I think it's a good thing." Pocock has regularly stated he and Emma will not wed until same-sex marriage is legalised. Living with a lesbian couple when he was playing for the Western Force in Perth prompted the vow. "We got on so well," he says. "You see the debate, the marriage equality debate, and it's like we're talking about trading cars or selling cattle. These are real people. Chatting to friends in Perth at the time, marriage equality to many in the LGBTI community wasn't the biggest issue for them. There were some other serious issues. But to people who want to celebrate their commitment in that way, I can't see how you would deny your brothers and sisters or friends that opportunity. It's not infringing on your marriage. Are we really that insecure? I kind of feel the tide has turned at a societal level. Whether the people we elected will follow through is another thing." The upshot of the Potgieter incident is that the player himself apologised, before attending a training session with the Convicts, Sydney's first gay rugby team, but at what cost for Pocock? It was reported Pocock's stance could cost him the Wallabies captaincy. ARU sources dismiss this, but you wonder how much Pocock rankles the game's powerbrokers by regularly speaking out about social issues.

When he was arrested at Maules Creek, head office dispatched a media statement: "While we appreciate David has personal views on a range of matters, we've made it clear that we expect his priority to be ensuring he can fulfil his role as a high-performance athlete." Pocock is unusually evasive when I ask him if he's ever been told to rein it in. From the ARU? The Brumbies? Even teammates, friends and family? "I'm not too sure how much I can and cannot talk about that," he says with a laugh. "It is more a question of, 'What does it take to be the best athlete you can be?' Should you be a total robot? Personally, I don't think that detracted from my preparation or focus on rugby. If anything, being involved in that sort of thing gives you perspective, and when you do come to training, you're mentally fresh and ready to get into it, instead of living in a footy world." When Pocock is receiving criticism for taking a stand, he thinks of those he is trying to help. "At times it does affect you, but that sense of perspective certainly helps," he says. "Spending some time with Rick Laird, who I got locked on with, helps. Here's a farmer whose family has been there since the 1850s, and that's his livelihood, and now they are building a coal mine in the middle of the forest named after his forebears. I'm just some rugby player in Canberra, who makes good money, who chases a rugby ball around."