The persistent booing of Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes must stop, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird says, as the club warns the star is clearly distressed and may not return to the AFL.
Fairfax Media reported Goodes was considering imminent retirement because of the effect the booing was having on his teammates.
The booing has been described by some, including Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, as racist.
Mr Baird said it was "totally unacceptable" that the situation had led one of the AFL's great players to consider not wanting to "lace up his boots".
"There is a place for good-natured heckling in Australian sport," Mr Baird wrote on Facebook.
"I've booed a few Queensland league players in my time (Wally Lewis comes to mind). And some may argue that the line between good-natured and malicious heckling can be fuzzy.
"But there is nothing fuzzy about this. The line has been crossed."
Mr Baird said good sportsmanship was something Australians prided themselves on.
"The relentless booing of Adam Goodes breaks this spirit of good sportsmanship," he said.
"It must stop. Goodsey, I hope you feel the waves of support from the many thousands of supporters that have got your back. I can't wait for you to get back on the field."
Earlier on Thursday, Ireland said he believed the former Australian of the Year would return to the field, but he could not be certain.
"My gut feeling is he will want to play but he's doing some contemplating," Ireland told reporters in Sydney.
"I think he will come back and play through the remainder of the season, but to be frank I couldn't be certain about it."
Coach John Longmire said the ongoing crowd taunts had taken a toll and it was not until you spoke to Goodes that you understood how distressed he was.
Asked if he was confident Goodes would play on, Longmire said: "Yes, but I can't give any guarantees."
Ireland said there had been no mention of retirement at this stage.
"No-one at the club in the discussions we've had with him has talked about retirement - it's simply been he needed some time away from footy," he said.
The Swans boss said he did not agree with comments that Goodes was "playing the victim card".
"I think there are commentators who make those types of comments and I think they constantly play the race card in a lot of things they say," Ireland said.
"The whole thing's been a disgrace. For a talented player such as Adam - he's a fantastic player, a fantastic person, the amount of community work he does ... the fact people don't like him making some comments around Indigenous people, to me, is the reason why he's copping what he is."
Swans co-captain Kieren Jack said while their focus was on a mate in distress, the crowd's booing affected the whole team.
"To see your mate generally hurting the way he is, and having to take time away from something he loves doing, that's something you don't want to see," he said.
"As football players you can almost come out to the football field and escape a lot of the problems you have.
"For Adam, he doesn't see that as an option; [this issue is] something he can't get away from at the moment."
Co-captain Jarrad McVeigh said the controversy had taken its toll on his teammate.
"The whole thing's continued on basically the whole year," he said.
"For him it's come to a point ... and he's had enough. We've had enough."
The AFL has condemned the booing and AFL Players' Association chief executive Paul Marsh said Goodes could not be blamed if he decided to retire.
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