⚡MINI: Izak Rankine's Controversial Slur - How Should We Move Forward?

"Should we forgive Izak for using a homophobic slur? Hayley & Max debate if his apology was genuine and what the path forward looks like."

- Izak's apology seemed scripted but hit the right notes 
- The club should have made him apologize before leaving
- Many fans seem ready to move on if Izak commits to education

Let us know your thoughts! Should Izak be forgiven? How can he make amends? Hit play above to hear our debate.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I heard podcasts here, more mixed one or two point
three podcasts, playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
So Isaac's back.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
He will beat the footy tomorrow night, and it's just
going to be a Crows player again.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Now that he's done that, we're okay with this.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Now you're not okay with what he did originally, obviously,
I'm I think that the apology came like a week late.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
It would have been nice to have that.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
If you're just going to make a statement, make that statement,
take it off, do the apology to your teammates and
the AFLW girls instantly, and then go.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
On your little trip. But now it's done, he was.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
It was a statement that clearly was scripted, but he
memorized it, and I don't care.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I don't care that it was scripted or not.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
It was a fair statement said all the moments that
I think it needed to hit.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Because I feel like you've had time, okay, So he's
had time to reflect on this now, and I feel
like it came across like, yes, we'll move on, but
I think there's a lot of people that won't forget.
But it came across like I'm just saying all the
things to make everybody else happy, But I don't really
know the gravity of what I've just said.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
It in his eyes, I'm I don't want anything more.
He's a twenty five year old dude. He's not paid
to speak, play footy. He's not a good talker.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
I know he's struggling with mental health and stuff, and
I know that, like, like, yes, we'll all move on.
But I'm just saying, you can you can kill someone
and say I'm sorry. It's not okay. No, I'm not
comparing it to that, but I'm just saying, you hope
that he will go and maybe talk to families like
my parents who had a son who was bashed and
called that word because he was gay. So you'd want

(01:43):
him to learn from it, not just saying I'm sorry.
You want him to actually feel what it is like
and talk to the families and why that word is
so triggering for people.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
He said he's going to go and talk to the
AFLW girls.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
He said he's going to do all the education that
is required of him, and he's already learned a lot
about what he's copped in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Max, you think the club let him down, Like surely
there's people at the club that are behind him that
should say you should do this now rather than in
a week or two now.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, I do think that.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I think, first of all, let me put on a
record Isaac rek he made a mistake, and don't say
that word.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Is so dumb to say that word.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Isaac is not He's not a brain surgeon, he's not
a rocket scientist.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
He's a very good footballer.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
So he doesn't know pr He doesn't know how to
do a well formulated apology.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
This isn't something he's ever had to do before. I
think that the.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Crows should have said originally, before you go overseas, I'm
more than happy for you to go overseas, take the
time out of the footy bubble and get your mental
health right, because it's tough, mate. The whole world's piling
onto you, rightly or wrongly. Before he went overseas, he
should have spoken to his teammates, and he should have
spoken to the AFLW girls, which is obviously a big

(02:51):
deal for.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Is that the Crow's father.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
They didn't make him do that or surround him.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, well, he wasn't even at the club, which is fine.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
He didn't want to beat the club. He wanted to
stay at home in his little bubble. He was tacking
his decks after saying what he said, They should have
made him that he should have I think I think
that the Crows should have said, let's sort this out
before you head overseas.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
And why wouldn't they have though.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Because they were really concerned about this is what the
Crows will say he was. They really concerned about his
mental health and it was best for him to not
be near the club and it was best for him
to not face all this and have a week to
simmer off over in Italy or wherever he was.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, this is just my ignorance.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Is there not someone at the at the club, at
the Crows that could have come out and said, look,
we're just letting him deal with this for a second.
He will come out in a second and say sorry.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
But they did.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
They did, like so CEO. CEO was the first person
to really speak on it. Matthew Knicks had has spoken
on it a couple of times since that they're back
doing their normal interviews now. But it was just in
the in the days afterwards, and I know there'll be
people out there saying, well, why does he have to even,
you know, apologize or say anything. It's it's not really
about It's just about the teammates, Like it's nice to

(03:53):
say that to your teammates, especially the AFLW girls where
a lot of them are lgbt Q I plus people.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
If he rocks up to the Collingwood game tomorrow night,
what do you reckon is going to happen? If he's
shown on the screen or if people see him in
the stand.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
I reckon that he will be there tomorrow night supporting
his team. As he said in his statement, he said,
all I can do now is put my head down,
help the team through September. I reckon that She's hard
to speak for all fans. There are plenty that will
be unhappy with him, but I would suggest that a
lot of Crows fans now will just be Okay, you've
done the apology, you've made the mistake, you've owned the mistake.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
What more can you do. Let's let's wrap our arms
around me. If you appears on screen.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a good portion
of the crowd that clapped to sort of welcome him back.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Make of that what you will. Wow, all right, well
he's apologized.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
We will we will take that apology, but we won't
forget