Jarrad McVeigh says Adam Goodes could still be playing if not for ugly booing

JARRAD McVeigh says Adam Goodes would still be playing if it wasn’t for the continual booing he received from opposition fans.

Adam Goodes and Jarrad McVeigh of the Sydney Swans celebrates with the cup after the Swans won the 2012 AFL Grand Final. Picture: Phil Hillyard

SWANS co-captain Jarrad McVeigh says Adam Goodes would still be playing if it wasn’t for the continual booing he received from opposition fans throughout his last two seasons in footy.

Goodes chose to walk away from the game following Sydney’s semi-final loss to North Melbourne last year and also avoided the Grand Final parade for retiring footballers as he struggled to deal with the stress of the booing.

McVeigh is one of Goodes’ closest friends and played 12 seasons alongside the dual Brownlow medallist.

“I’ve got no doubt he might have played again this year if things were different,” McVeigh told the Daily Telegraph.

“The way he played in the finals was really good, he was one of our best players. There was no reason to say he couldn’t have gone on. You could see the emotional strain it put on him and you don’t want to see that in a place where he should be celebrated.”

McVeigh’s revelations come as the AFL launched the newly named Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round which will kick off on Friday night at the SCG when the Swans take on the undefeated Kangaroos.

In Sydney for the launch, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said he hoped Goodes’ experience wouldn’t prevent any current indigenous players from speaking out on race issues.

“I certainly hope so,” McLachlan said.

“Our game and sport in general plays a role in race relations in Australia. It provides a platform to grow, to have conversations and to know each other better.

“For all the lows of the incident with Adam I do think there is growth and there are conversations and hopefully we progress. I hope indigenous players are given voice to speak and I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that’s the case.”

Close mates Adam Goodes and Jarrad McVeigh share a laugh at Swans training. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Earlier this year McLachlan apologised to Goodes for his organisation’s inaction on the issue.

“We were a week too late in speaking out,” McLachlan said.

“There was context to that but in the end it doesn’t matter, if you are a week late you’re a week late and I’ve said that.”

McVeigh said it was very difficult to watch Goodes suffering through the last two years of his illustrious 372-game career.

“It was hard to see your mate going through that,” McVeigh said.

“To see the physical and mental effects it had on Adam, to see him mentally and physically drained, to see him have to take time away from what he loves to do, was hard to watch. We just tried to support him as much as we could and hopefully he can find some peace.”

Originally published as Jarrad McVeigh says Adam Goodes could still be playing if not for ugly booing