A remorseful Izak Rankine has spoken publicly for the first time since he was suspended for a homophobic slur directed at a Collingwood player.
Rankine returned to the country after spending the past 10 days in Italy to escape the fallout of his four-match ban.
The 25-year-old fought back tears as he apologised for his actions to awaiting media at Adelaide airport.
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“I wanna start by saying how deeply sorry I am for what I said, there was no excuse. It was wrong and I take full responsibility,” he said.
“I’m disappointed in myself and I know I’ve let a lot of people down.
“I want to apologise to anyone I’ve hurt and offended. I understand that word is offensive, harmful and hurtful and has no place in our game or society.
“I am in no way a victim, but going away as given me the space to reflect and educate myself to understand the weight of my mistake.”
Rankine said he will address his teammates and the AFLW team to apologise personally.
“More than anything I want this club to succeed, so I’ll be doing everything I can to gain everyone’s trust back and positive impact on society,” he added.
He didn’t take any questions.
Rankine was granted an extended leave of absence in the wake of the suspension that consumed the entire AFL world.
7NEWS revealed that Rankine left the country the day after he was handed the ban and spent time at a European training facility to keep his fitness levels up in the unlikely event that he will play again this year.
He has served one match of his ban and to play again this year, the Crows would need to lose their first final to Collingwood and then progress to the grand final.
Adelaide successfully argued the ban down from five matches to four on the back of “compelling medical submissions”, centred on his mental health.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon didn’t elaborate on the compelling submission when facing the media two weeks ago.
“We look at the specific instances, and in this one there were submissions made, including compelling medical submissions that were taken into account when arriving at the sanction,” he said.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks last week said sending Rankine overseas was the best move to prepare him for his faint chance of playing in a potential grand final.
“We spoke through it at length about what we felt was best for Izak’s preparation, be it the limited opportunity he’s going to have to play again this year, there’s a small chance there,” Nicks told Fox Footy.
“So we wanted to do whatever we felt would put him in the best position.
“Keep in mind this is a guy that hadn’t left his house for five or six days over the last week and had media parked outside the front of his house constantly watching him and so on.
“Izak understands what he did was wrong and it was a mistake and he’s regretful for that but we wanted to make sure that if that small chance arrived, we set him up for success.
“So he’s gone to a really high-level training facility overseas because it allowed him to just get the work done he needed.
“Within the country here, we know people are going to find him, and we just wanted him to focus on that.”
After Rankine’s suspension was handed down, Nicks stressed the forward shouldn’t be portrayed as a victim after being banned for the homophobic slur.
But he had spent time with Rankine in the days after it became public.
“I spent a fair bit of time with him across the week prior to, in the end, the decision that was made,” he said.
“I think one thing that you learn in moments like this is they’re really tough moments and there’s no doubting that the mistake was made.
“But you’ve got to get around your people and you’ve got to make sure your people are OK.
“And it wasn’t just Izak I was with during the week, it was a lot of other people that I felt maybe needed me to be there or needed for the leaders of our club to be around.
“But I think as a footy club, we did it as well as we possibly could in trying circumstances.”
Rankine was the sixth AFL-listed player banned for an on-field homophobic comment in the past 16 months.
In July, West Coast’s Jack Graham was banned four games for for an homophobic remark to a GWS player.
In April last year, Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson was suspended for three games and, the following month, Gold Coast’s Wil Powell was suspended five matches, both for making homophobic slurs to opponents.
Two VFL players - Sydney’s Riak Andrew (five games) and St Kilda’s Lance Collard (six matches) have also recently been banned for on-field homophobic comments.
- With AAP
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