Dan Houston sledge that triggered Izak Rankine before homophobic slur revealed
Adelaide has launched a multi-faceted defence to keep Izak Rankine’s season alive — citing an escalating war of words with Dan Houston that ‘agitated’ their small forward.
Adelaide has launched a multi-faceted defence to keep Izak Rankine’s season alive with the Crows citing an escalating war of words with Dan Houston that referenced the ex-Port Adelaide player knocking the Crows star out last year.
The Herald Sun has confirmed part of the Crows submission to the AFL is that Rankine felt triggered by the comment on Saturday night after Houston received a five-week ban for concussing him with a high bump last August.
It ended Houston’s Port Adelaide career as he moved to the Pies, and as part of a back-and-forth against Collingwood on Saturday night that included sparring both ways, Houston made comments referencing that incident.
It is not known the exact exchange of words but Houston made reference to his hit on Rankine last year.
It was not the first time a Port Adelaide or former Port player has made a comment about him being carried off this year in that Showdown clash.
Adelaide does not condone Rankine’s comment and accepts that he is to blame for using the word f----t on Saturday night.
The Herald Sun does not believe Houston was the victim of Rankine’s slur but Adelaide thinks Houston’s sledge contributed to the Crow’s agitated state.
But as part of the club’s submission that verbal sparring was referenced as one of the reasons why Rankine uttered the unacceptable word.
Adelaide has also told the AFL that missing finals games should be given a greater weight than missing home-and-away clashes.
It has not escaped the Crows that the league has spent millions hiring controversial American rapper Snoop Dogg despite his history of homophobic lyrics while penalising AFL players for using the same word.
The Crows have also made clear that the AFL should be aware of how rocked Rankine is by his current predicament, with Adelaide working hard to surround him with support given his devastation.
A shattered Rankine was again absent from Crows headquarters on Tuesday as he awaited a ban that is still likely to end his premiership dream.
The league is keen to hand him a penalty commensurate with the most recent bans for on-field homophobic slurs, which would be four or five weeks.
But Adelaide is trying desperately to secure a discount for Rankine over his contrition, which included a Sunday morning phone call to his Collingwood opponent to express his remorse.
Adelaide also believes he has shown his contrition, even if he did not self-report.
A three-week ban would allow him to miss round 24 and two finals then return for a potential Grand Final.
But his extraordinary brain-fade when calling a Magpies player a ’f—-t’ during last Saturday night’s tense Adelaide Oval clash will likely have massive ramifications for the finals series.
The AFL’s base penalty for a homophobic slur is five weeks given the precedent of Sydney’s Riak Andrew last month for a similar offence in a VFL game.
So the Crows will have to do something exceptional to argue the penalty down to three weeks given four players have been suspended for between 4-6 weeks since Jeremy Finlayson’s three-week ban last April.
A lengthy ban would mean Rankine would either miss a Crows premiership that would quench a 27-year drought or his ban will be seen as one of the key reasons his team were unable to unlock the club’s first flag success since 1998.
The 25-year-old, who has never played a final in his six AFL seasons to date, is understood to be devastated by the penalty.
The Crows are close to locking away their first minor premiership since 2017 with a win over North Melbourne after a stellar season, but the loss of one of the club’s best playmakers has delivered a body blow to their chances.
Matthew Nicks’ team ended round 23 as premiership favourites but they have lost that mantle after this masthead revealed late on Sunday that the AFL Integrity Unit was investigating a homophobic slur from the Crows-Pies game.
Teammate Taylor Walker said he had spoken to Rankine on Monday night and pledged that the club would continue to support him.
“He’s very remorseful and he understands that he’s made a mistake and he’ll accept whatever comes his way,” Walker said on Tuesday morning.
“He hasn’t been outside. He had a full day of investigation with the AFL yesterday.
“We will support Ranks, however we don’t agree with what happened.”
TEX REVEALS RANKINE CALL
- Chris Cavanagh
Adelaide veteran Taylor Walker says a “remorseful” Izak Rankine will “accept whatever comes his way” as the AFL prepares to hand down a sanction for his homophobic slur.
Walker said he had spoken to Rankine on Monday night and the Crows would continue to support the star, who is facing a ban which could rule him out of the finals series.
“He’s very remorseful and he understands that he’s made a mistake and he’ll accept whatever comes his way,” Walker said on Tuesday morning.
“He hasn’t been outside. He had a full day of investigation with the AFL yesterday.
“We will support Ranks, however we don’t agree with what happened.”
There have been reports that “quite bad things” were also said to Rankine during the match against Collingwood on Saturday night, but Walker said even if that was the case it did not necessarily excuse his teammate’s own actions.
“When you’re a very good player…opposition team players try and put you off your game and Ranks has had to deal with that for a period of time,” he said on Triple M Adelaide.
“However, I do not sit here and say that I agree with what happened with Ranks. I don’t accept that and he’s made a mistake and he’ll get a sanction for it. But he gets antagonised week in, week out. Things get said to him that probably shouldn’t. Unfortunately that’s the situation.
“It’s a bit of fun trying to put your opposition off, but you’ve got to be super, super critical and understanding of who they are and their background and their journey.”
Walker acknowledged his own racism incident from 2021 and said players were “treading on thin ice” if they went after teammates about family, the colour of their skin or their sexuality.
Many commentators are already writing off Adelaide’s premiership hopes if Rankine is suspended for the remainder of the year, but Walker said he had belief in the depth of the ladder-leader’s squad.
“I think as a footy club we’ve shown across the year that ‘next man up’ has been a bit of our motto,” he said.
“We’ve seen Max Michalanney go down, we’ve seen Josh Rachele go down, Buttsy (Jordan Butts) got injured, Muzz (Nick Murray) got injured. So we’ve been able to bolster our squad and we’re going to have to lean into it because we might not have him for the finals series. I think the guys that have come in, they’ve had their opportunity and taken them with both arms. You look at what Hugh Bond has been able to do since coming in and Zac Taylor and Lachie Murphy on the weekend. Yeah, it’s going to be difficult for us. He’s one of our better players. But it creates an opportunity for us.”
Originally published as Dan Houston sledge that triggered Izak Rankine before homophobic slur revealed
