NATHAN Buckley and Paul Roos have thrown their support behind Adam Goodes, joining the growing chorus of those calling for an end to the booing of the two-time Brownlow medallist. 

The Swans midfielder received a hostile reception from West Coast fans when he approached the ball in Sunday's Eagles-Swans clash at Domain Stadium.

The jeers prompted Swans livewire Lewis Jetta to show his support for his teammate after he kicked a goal by performing a version of the war cry Goodes used during Indigenous Round.

Buckley said the taunts from the crowd were in part driven by racism and hoped the growing support for Goodes would see a shift in fans' mentalities.

War cry was Jetta's call for respect

"There's definitely a racist element to it, I wouldn't say that it necessarily started that way, but I definitely see that," Buckley told Fox Footy on Monday night.

"We are at a position in the game and in society that if you booed him next time at Simonds Stadium in a couple of weeks, I reckon you'd get a clip across the ear from a few people, and I'd like to see that.

"It's cowardly because would you walk up in front of him and do that? No you wouldn't."

Roos, who coached Goodes at the Swans between 2002 and 2010, also expressed his disappointment.

"If Adam feels it's racist, well, it is racist," Roos said.

"You would hope now that that's the end of it and it finishes.

"It's a shame because not every football person gets to meet him, but you wouldn't boo him if you knew him, that's the sad part."

Earlier on Monday, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said the booing was "ugly" and called for an end to it. 

"I think there has obviously been a campaign for some months now against one player and the booing has been going on for some time against Adam Goodes and I think we're at the stage where people don't even know why they're doing it," McLachlan said.

"I want to make the comment that it's obviously hurting Adam, but it's (also) hurting a lot of people in our industry.

"We've got the best supporters in the world … (but) I want to remind people actually that it's got to the point now where it's having an impact and ask people to refrain.

"It's been going on at an unprecedented level for many months and it's ugly and it's having an impact.

"We've got great supporters, I can't tell them what to do but I ask them to consider that going forward."

McLachlan said he had no problem with Jetta performing the war dance against the Eagles.

"If you compare it to say a finger salute to the crowd, everyone in our society knows that that means," he said.

"I think you have to look at the war dance in the context of what it is and was. It is a dance created by a group of under-16 indigenous players.

"They modelled it a bit on the haka. It is something they can do to celebrate their culture and it was demonstrated by Adam in Indigenous Round, a round where we give our indigenous players a platform to celebrate their indigenousness.

"If that's where it's come from I think we need to contextualise that and understand it. That's what it is and it has no broader meaning than that, unlike other actions."

On Monday afternoon, West Coast released a statement saying it was “extremely disappointed and dismayed by the booing of Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes”.

“It is completely inappropriate and it has to stop,” chief executive officer Trevor Nisbett said.

“It was a minority of our fans booing yesterday, but it has happened across the competition for a number of weeks and as an AFL community we have to address this matter. I implore all clubs to stop this nonsense.”