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Houston, then a Port Adelaide player, concussed Rankine in a Showdown late last season and received a five-match ban. He never played for the Power again, moving to Collingwood in the off-season.
McRae didn’t buy in to the Houston exchange.
“I don’t want to have ‘he said, she said’ stuff,” McRae said.
“The reality is we’re all really comfortable with what we want our workplace to look like, and these things step over the boundary line.”
The Crows are considering their options and are expected to respond to the AFL on Wednesday.
“We are having ongoing discussions with the AFL as part of the due process,” an Adelaide spokesperson said.
The Crows made a submission as part of the league’s investigation, hoping to minimise any sanction for using the word “f—-t” during the match, a fact two sources confirmed. The submission included reference to the byplay between Rankine and Collingwood players before the incident.
Despite the fact Rankine did not self-report, the club argued he was contrite and rang the Collingwood player whom the slur was directed at to apologise on Sunday. The club also argued it followed proper processes and did not attempt to defend the player’s action publicly or privately during the investigation.
Eddie McGuire reported on Footy Classified on Tuesday night that Rankine had been offered a five-match ban.
Adelaide could appeal the ban if they are unhappy with the league’s decision. There is the potential for the Crows to argue the penalty is excessive given a five-match ban would rule Rankine out of the finals. Other bans for using a homophobic slur have been served in the home-and-away season.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was scheduled to face the media in his weekly press conference on Wednesday, but that has been pushed back to Friday.
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