Adam Goodes documentary, The Final Quarter: Eddie McGuire says film is confronting

Eddie McGuire speaks out as ugly end to Adam Goodes’s career is revealed in new doco.

Former Swans champion Adam Goodes and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire.

Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire says it was “confronting and heartbreaking” to be featured in the Adam Goodes documentary in a negative way, but has urged people to watch the program.

The documentary, The Final Quarter, aired on Thursday night on the Ten Network and examines the final three seasons of Adam Goodes’s playing career with the Sydney Swans AFL team.

It highlights how Goodes, a two-time Brownlow medallist, was subjected to intense criticism from some media commentators for calling out a 13-year-old Collingwood fan who called him an ape during a game in 2013.

McGuire inflamed the situation soon after when he said the Sydney Swans star should be used to promote the musical King Kong.

The documentary shows that in 2015 Goodes was criticised by some media commentators for doing a war dance towards Carlton fans in the AFL indigenous round after kicking a goal.

Goodes was booed by fans at most AFL games in 2015 and he left the sport that year.

Former Footy Show stars McGuire and Sam Newman.

McGuire told his Triple M Morning program that it was hard to watch the documentary.

“It’s very confronting and it’s heartbreaking to be involved in it in a negative way,” he said.

“I encourage people to watch this documentary. What you have to do in these situations is you have to front up to things. It’s an eye-opener. And if that’s the bottom line, it’s been a worthwhile exercise.,” McGuire told Triple M.

“I hope it gives us an opportunity to, if it’s applicable to Adam, to get Adam back into the game,” he said.

“I really want to open up and talk about things and be open to a solution. We want people to understand … and look after indigenous footballers.”

The documentary is made largely from archival footage, and former Geelong Player and Footy Show presenter Sam Newman was featured several times criticising Goodes on the now-defunct AFL program.

Newman was targeted on social media over his comments and took to Twitter saying he would have liked to have been given an opportunity to speak about the documentary.

“Heartfelt thanks for enlightening comments by my fellow Australians on Goodes doco. Would love to have been part of conversation, but wasn’t allowed. Glad I could help 10’s flagging ratings. Keep comments coming, please. #channel10 #AdamGoodes” he posted.

Heartfelt thanks for enlightening comments by my fellow Australians on Goodes doco. Would love to have been part of conversation, but wasn’t allowed. Glad I could help 10’s flagging ratings. Keep comments coming, please. #channel10 #AdamGoodes 🇦🇺🇦🇺

— Sam Newman (@Origsmartassam) July 19, 2019

The AFL has apologised for failing to do enough to stop the racism directed at Goodes.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan told 3AW Radio presenter Neil Mitchell he hoped the documentary would lead to continued discussion about race in Australia.

“If you come through that and if you don’t feel that — not everyone, but part of that issue was around race, then I think you’re not seeing it clearly,” Mr McLachlan said.

AFL general Manager of Inclusion Tanya Hosch last night told Network 10’s The project that the AFL had erred by taking too long to work out how to respond to the booing directed at Goodes.

“I think taking too much time to determine how to respond,” she said.

“I feel like the AFL probably got stuck where a lot of Australia got stuck which was having a conversation and getting bogged down into a debate about whether the booing was racist or not rather than addressing something that was clearly racially motivated.”

Mr McLachlan said this morning it had been a “really, really difficult” issue to manage.

“Our priority was Adam. the learning I have is that you can’t nuance these things sometimes, sometimes you try to get an outcome and you’re managing lots of different views it gets to the point where you’ve just got to call it.”

Goodes’s former club, the Sydney Swans asked fans to post an image on social media saying “We stand with Adam” and urged them to share it with the hashtag #WeStandWithAdam.