Adelaide Crows star awaits AFL suspension verdict on slur directed at Collingwood Magpies opponent

The match-winning midfielder loomed as a trump card for the top-of-the-table Crows in this year’s finals series, but could be ruled out for the rest of the club’s season if he is suspended for four games or more. The Crows are hoping for a penalty that considers the significance of missing finals matches, as opposed to home-and-away games.

A suspension of four or five matches would be consistent with previous on-field matters of homophobic vilification investigated by the AFL. Gold Coast’s Wil Powell received a five-match suspension in 2024, and West Coast’s Jack Graham received a four-match ban after telling his club he had used the slur during a match against the Giants in July. In handing Graham four matches, the AFL considered Graham’s “self-reporting of the incident, along with his private apology and contrition”.

If he is banned for four matches, Rankine would remain an outside chance to return for the grand final if the Crows lost the qualifying final and then won their next two matches. If the penalty is five matches, the star forward’s season is over.

Teammate Taylor Walker said Rankine was “very remorseful” and ready to accept whatever penalty the AFL imposes on him.

“I spoke to him [Rankine] last night on the phone, and he is very remorseful and he understands that he’s made a mistake, and he’ll accept whatever comes his way,” Walker told Triple M Breakfast in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Walker would have some understanding of Rankine’s position, given he was banned for six games and fined $20,000 in 2021 following an AFL investigation that found he’d racially vilified a SANFL player, an act he said at the time he was “deeply ashamed” of.

“He [Rankine] hasn’t been outside and he had a full day of investigation with the AFL yesterday,” Walker said on Tuesday.

“I know that our footy club is a very positive and supportive environment, and we will support ‘Ranks’, however we don’t agree with what happened.”