Rankine called Pie to apologise after alleged homophobic insult, Crows await fate

Adelaide star Izak Rankine apologised to his Collingwood opponent on Sunday after allegedly directing a homophobic slur towards him during the Crows’ win on Saturday night.

The AFL is expected to hand down its finding in the coming days, with the Crows bracing themselves to be without Rankine for multiple matches if the allegation is proven as they push for their first premiership since 1998.

Rankine allegedly called his opponent a f----t. The alleged slur comes after West Coast’s Jack Graham was banned for four matches in July after calling a GWS player a “f---ing f----t”.

Players, including Graham, found to have delivered homophobic insults in the past two seasons have served suspensions of between three and six matches.

The outcome of the AFL integrity unit investigation could have huge implications for the Crows’ premiership hopes as there is just one match remaining until finals.

A suspension of four matches or more if Rankine was found guilty could see him miss a grand final if the Crows won through to the decider via qualifying and preliminary final wins.

Two competition sources, who would not be quoted publicly due to the sensitive nature of the incident, said Rankine phoned his opponent on Sunday to apologise.

He is a key player in the club’s push for a flag after they secured a home qualifying final with a three-point win over the Magpies that guaranteed them a top two spot.

Collingwood vice-captain Brayden Maynard and AFLW player Sabrina Frederick were the first Magpies to publicly broach the incident on Monday.

Maynard said his teammates were all “doing OK” but didn’t want to weigh in on a “touchy” situation and would leave the investigating to the AFL.

But he said homophobic incidents were happening too often.

“It’s happened, what, three or four times now, so we clearly need to stamp it out,” he said. “I think we’re doing a great job of that and we’re doing as best as we can to stamp all that stuff out of the game. So, it’s not good to see.”

Frederick said it was important for players to operate in a safe environment.

“Safety in football is huge,” she said. “Creating an environment where players are safe to come to work, fans in support are safe to come experience the entertainment of football, that’s really important to us here at Collingwood, but across the entire AFL.”

The Crows released a statement on Monday confirming they were “aware of an alleged matter involving one of our players in Saturday night’s game and we are in discussions with the AFL”.

Captain Jordan Dawson described the situation as “not ideal” when he arrived at Crows headquarters on Monday.

“But it’s in the AFL’s hands, it’s being investigated and we will see what happens. We will wait and see and leave it up to the AFL to go through what they have to go through.”

Players have received significant suspensions for offensive slurs.

Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson was the first player suspended for a homophobic insult when he received a three-match ban for denigrating an Essendon player during last year’s Gather Round. Gold Coast’s Wil Powell received a five-match suspension last season with the AFL coming down harder as it believed the player should have been more aware the comment was not to be tolerated after Finlayson’s ban.

Graham was suspended for four matches after self-reporting. Sydney’s Riak Andrew received a five-match ban for the same offence in a VFL match in July this year, while AFL-listed player Lance Collard got six matches for homophobic abuse in the VFL after making multiple comments.

Rankine has kicked 31 goals in 2025 and is regarded as the Crows’ match-winner.

Last Monday, he spoke of his excitement at Adelaide’s finals campaign.

“I have never been this high on the ladder before so it’s quite nice,” he said.

“We’ll appreciate it ... it’s nice to think about, but we know we have some more steps to take throughout the year.”

With AAP

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