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Goodes could be contemplating AFL retirement

Goodes at training last week. Photo: Getty

Goodes at training last week. Photo: Getty

AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh says no-one can blame Adam Goodes if he decides to retire, as the booing controversy reaches fever pitch.

Goodes has reportedly told a few of his team-mates and those in his inner sanctum he is weighing up his playing future.

During Sunday’s game against the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium in Perth, Goodes was subjected to a torrent of abuse from the home team fans.

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“We haven’t gotten into that detail … right now were very focused on Adam’s wellbeing,” Marsh said on SEN today.

“He’s away from the club for a few days and I think that’s the right call. We’ll take this a day at a time at the moment.

“We’re very focused on trying to stop this (booing) from continuing on, and it does become hypothetical, but if it does continue on, then I don’t think you could blame Adam if it got to that (retirement).

“It would be a shockingly sad situation if it got to that and most football fans would be joining me and saying we hope it doesn’t.”

As the booing row escalates, Goodes has been given two days off training.

“Adam needs a couple of days away … to take a breath about it,” Sydney coach John Longmire said at training on Tuesday.

Goodes at training last week. Photo: Getty

Goodes at training last week. Photo: Getty

Asked if Goodes would play against Adelaide in their round 18 match on Saturday, Longmire replied: “We’ll just take that as we go.

“We need to make sure that we’re fully supportive of him and wait a day or two and let things settle down and he’ll decide that.

“There’s no pressure on him at all.”

Retired Swans premiership player Michael O’Loughlin wouldn’t comment on retirement reports but said Goodes was battling with the ongoing booing.

“He is really struggling mentally and physically,” O’Loughlin, a father-figure to Goodes, told Fairfax.

“There’s only so much a man can take before his legs start to buckle.

“This isn’t a WA thing or an AFL thing – it’s an Australian issue. To be called an ‘Abo’, a ni**er, a black so and so, for your entire life, and then expected to sit there and accept it, it’s a reflection on Australia and where we are as a country.

“For people to say it’s not racist … What else can it be? I read about one fan who was evicted after yelling out, ‘Get back to the zoo’. He was just ‘banter’. What absolute garbage.”

O’Loughlin, however, said he was confident the Swans would continue to back and support Goodes at future games, saying the team’s first “test” would be at the next away match against Geelong at Simonds Stadium on August 8.

“They are a great club with some great leaders,” he said.

“They have some loyal supporters and I am sure they will make a stand. They will fall behind and stand up for the number 37.”

Indigenous official Jason Mifsud briefed Tuesday’s meeting of the AFL Commission about the Goodes issue.

“Racism has no place in our game, and while I respect that people may have different views about what is happening to Adam, it is impossible to separate this issue from the issue of race,” AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan later said.

“The booing of Adam Goodes is being felt as racism by him and by many in our football community.

“As such, I urge our supporters to understand the toll this is having, the message it is sending, and that it does not reflect well on our game.”

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