\n Gold Coast’s Max Knobel is under investigation by the AFL’s Integrity Unit\n <\/p>\n
Max Knobel at Gold Coast training in May, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
GOLD Coast ruck Max Knobel is the latest player to be investigated by the AFL for the alleged use of a homophobic slur.<\/p>\n
The Suns and the AFL have confirmed the 21-year-old is the subject of an investigation following Saturday’s VFL match against Brisbane.<\/p>\n
“The Gold Coast SUNS are aware of an incident involving one of its players in Saturday’s VFL match against the Brisbane Lions,” the Suns said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The club is currently cooperating fully with the AFL’s Integrity Unit as part of an ongoing investigation.”<\/p>\n
In a statement, the AFL said: “We have been made aware of a matter arising from the VFL Round 11 match between the Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions, which has been referred to the AFL Integrity Unit.”<\/p>\n
If found guilty, Knobel faces a lengthy ban.<\/p>\n
Max Knobel at Gold Coast training in May, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Brisbane player Koby Evans was banned for four matches for using a homophobic slur in a VFL match, with the punishment reduced due to the player’s remorse.<\/p>\n
In the past two-and-a-half seasons, Jeremy Finlayson (three matches), Izak Rankine (four), Jack Graham (four), Riak Andrew (five), Wil Powell (five) and Lance Collard (six) have all been suspended for using a homophobic slur.<\/p>\n
Collard was also sanctioned for a second incident this year, with his initial nine-week suspension reduced to four weeks on appeal, two of which were suspended. Collard always denied the allegation from this year.<\/p>\n
Knobel, the son of former Brisbane, St Kilda and Richmond player Trent, is yet to play a game at AFL level.<\/p>\n
Max Knobel in action during a Fremantle training session. Picture: Fremantle FC<\/p>\n
He was originally drafted to Fremantle with pick No.42 in 2022 and was delisted by the Dockers at the end of 2024 with the promise that he would be re-signed in the rookie draft.<\/p>\n
However, the Suns swooped in at the draft, picking up Knobel at pick 4 before the Dockers had a chance to re-draft him.<\/p>\n
He had 39 hit-outs, 13 disposals and four clearances in the Suns’ 17-point win on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gold Coast’s Max Knobel is under investigation by the AFL’s Integrity Unit Max Knobel at Gold Coast training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,83,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-720302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-text","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}