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Geoff Huegill says he'll take time to consider retiring, but is adamant he won't slip again into obesity and alcohol abuse if he quits swimming.

Geoff Huegill knows his glory days are gone, but has pledged not to again plummet into a pitfall of obesity and alcohol abuse.

Huegill is considering ending his competitive swimming career after failing to make the London Olympics.

But he's adamant he won't repeat the mistakes in his last retirement in 2004.

"I was fighting obesity, I was fighting alcohol-related issues, I was in a very dark stage," Huegill said.

"And to be able to turn that around was the underlying goal when I first got back in the pool.

"Now I have learnt, not only as an athlete but as a better person, how to deal with circumstances in life.

"The most important thing now is setting goals, whether it be in my personal life whether it be in our business life, or even if I decide to continue on with my swimming life.

"Because without goals, you don't have direction.

"And for me, without a direction, I don't have anything to strive for and that is one of the pitfalls I fell into when I walked away from the sport in 2004."

Huegill failed to qualify for the London Games at the selection trials in Adelaide on Wednesday night, finishing fifth in the 100 metres butterfly final.

Australian coach Leigh Nugent expects the 31-year-old Huegill, who became a father in January, to retire.

"He has had so many changes in his life now, it has been hard to get himself ready for this," Nugent said.

"With a new addition to the family, it must create a difficult situation trying to sleep and whatever else.

"When you have children, it's like 'oh right, my life really has changed'.

"He would have been dealing with a lot."

Huegill, an Olympic silver and bronze medallist and former world champion and world record holder, said he would take time to decide his future.

"It would have been great to have the fairytale come true this week," he said.

"One of the things I reckon I will keep doing is swimming.

"Whether I swim competitively is going to be the big question."