Booed star set to Swan off

Sydney Swans’ indigenous star Adam Goodes is considering immediate retirement from the AFL as the booing controversy threatens to run him out of the game.

Goodes has told a handful of team-mates and those within his inner sanctum that he is weighing up the decision to end his career.

The issue isn’t so much the pressure he’s feeling after copping another torrent of racist abuse from a hostile away crowd, this time during the Swans’ match against West Coast at Domain Stadium on Sunday; it is the negative influence the booing is starting to have on his team-mates.

Team-mate Lewis Jetta performed an indigenous war dance and threw an imaginary spear at a section of the West Coast crowd in support of the dual Brownlow medallist.

Retired Swans premiership player Michael O’Loughlin, who Goodes considers a father figure, did not dismiss the retirement talk when contacted on Tuesday night.

‘‘I just know that he is battling. He is really struggling mentally and physically.

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

Goodes did not train on Tuesday and has been given two days off.

Swans coach John Longmire said there was no expectation on Goodes to declare his availability for the round 18 match against Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday.

‘‘Adam’s a very strong person who’s done a lot for the game,’’ Longmire said. ‘‘But don’t assume that these things are just easily washed over and don’t affect him in some way. He’s sick and tired of what’s been happening for a long time.’’

An emotional O’Loughlin said he was now embarrassed to take his family to away matches.

‘‘I hope the world takes notice of this,’’ he said. ‘‘This isn’t a WA thing or an AFL thing – it’s an Australian issue.

‘‘To be called an Abo, a nigger, 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? They are booing someone who is a dual Brownlow medallist and someone who has a hundred other accolades.

‘‘They are booing someone who has done so much to make sure kids get a better education. They are booing someone who has given so much more back to the game than many others.

‘‘I read about one fan who was evicted after yelling out, ‘Get back to the zoo’. He was just ‘banter’. What absolute garbage. Because someone like Adam doesn’t sit in the corner and accept it – and neither would I – he is booed.’’