McGuire’s bold ‘two week ban’ plan for Crows superstar as AFL on ‘manifestly unfair’ path

Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has weighed in on how the AFL will continue to handle any future cases of offensive slurs.

Adelaide’s Izak Rankine finds himself under investigation after allegations he used a homophobic slur in his side’s win over Collingwood on Saturday.

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The Crows forward is staring down the barrel of a lengthy suspension that could ultimately see him miss the entire 2025 finals series.

If the AFL continue to operate in a similar manner to previous bans, Rankine could be hit with a ban of more than six weeks.

It comes after West Coast’s Jack Graham was banned for four matches after round 17, while in July Sydney’s Riak Andrew was hit with a five match ban for using a homophobic slur during a VFL match.

McGuire however wonders if going down that same path is the correct way moving forward or if the league will change the punishments.

“Straight up, if this happens in round four, how many weeks does he get? When the first player got suspended for this they got three weeks, then it went to four weeks, then five … the bottom line is it’s gone up,” McGuire said on Nine’s Eddie and Jimmy podcast.

“The AFL made the point at the time, they’ve never officially said this is the rule, but they’ve floated it into the aether that until this is stamped out, it’s going to get higher and higher.

“We’re now in a situation where if Izak Rankine was to get seven weeks, according to the sliding scale of the AFL, or even five weeks, it means he’ll miss the entire finals series.

“If we want to stamp out homophobic slurs, then it’s buyer beware, you knew what would happen.

“Or do we get to a stage, which is controversial, where somebody like Greg Swann, who has been brought in to recalibrate a lot of the decisions that have gone way off the track in the AFL, and he comes in and sensibly says going forward, and from this day forward, if you’re found guilty of a homophobic slur, you get two weeks. And if you’re guilty a second time, you get 12 weeks.

“Or do you just come out and say, sorry Izak, seven weeks pal. You knew what was coming. And the next person gets eight weeks.

“I know Greg Swann in his heart of hearts would be saying (seven weeks) is a bit harsh. We don’t know whether (the offence) was said as a throwaway line or whether it was vehement. Who heard it, how it was reported, was anyone upset – that’ll come out in due course.

“We get to this stage, seven weeks, and go, OK, is this manifestly unfair? Or is it a stake in the ground?

“I think they’ve got to pull it back. At the AFL tribunal, there are no precedents. Each case is taken on its merits. I think it’s going to cause a lot of friction at headquarters if Greg Swann goes down the common sense football approach to this, as opposed to the other side of things that are red hot on social impact.”

The Crows have locked themselves into the top two on the ladder with one hand on the minor premiership and only one round remaining in the season.

But they’re now bracing to be without their star forward for the finals as a lengthy ban looms overhead.

Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson admitted the situation was “not ideal” but added it was a waiting game while the league took appropriate measures.

“Obviously it is not ideal, but it is in the AFL’s hands. It is being investigated, and we will see what happens,” he said outside Crows headquarters on Monday morning.

“We will wait and see and leave it up to the AFL to go through what they have to.

“No, I don’t think so (there is a cultural problem in the AFL).”

Later on Monday, key forward Darcy Fogarty fronted media at West Lakes and was subject to similar questioning as his skipper.

“It’s obviously not ideal, but we’re going to move on pretty quickly, we’ve got a big game against North this week, so that’s what’s going to take up a fair bit of our focus,” he said of the situation.

Fogarty was asked specifically if the numerous recent instances of homophobic slurs spoke to a wider cultural problem throughout the competition.

“I don’t think so. I think as far as what I can comment on through my lens and from what I’ve seen, it’s been positive and supportive,” he said.

The spearhead later added: “We’re massive role models for the community, so we’ve got to be really careful in how we use that power, I guess.”

On the prospect on losing Rankine for critical September fixtures, Fogarty said: “We’ve had a massive sort of process for the whole year (with) ‘next guy up’, so we’ve got massive belief in any role can be filled at the moment with the boys that are playing and the squad that we’ve got at the moment. We’ve got full confidence.”