MCG is investigating a formal complaint made against a member of the crowd<\/a> who allegedly directed multiple homophobic slurs at a Collingwood player in last Friday night\u2019s clash with Melbourne.<\/p>\nAnd so ahead of what\u2019s expected to be a fired up Adelaide Oval crowd, Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph reports there will be a \u201cmajor boost\u201d of security at the venue. <\/p>\n
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 16: Nick Daicos of the Magpies tries to get through Jordan Dawson and Wayne Milera of the Crows during the round 23 AFL match between Adelaide Crows and Collingwood Magpies at Adelaide Oval on August 16, 2025 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Maya Thompson\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThis qualifying final is a powder keg waiting to explode,\u201d Ralph said on Fox Footy\u2019s On the Couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is there will be a major boost of security at Adelaide Oval. Adelaide Oval is refusing to comment on its security provisions, the AFL says it will take all precautions necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis game has the potential to go absolutely feral, with thousands of Collingwood fans going across for that game. And the authorities are well aware of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tigers champion Jack Riewoldt questioned if the AFL should be \u201cworried\u201d about this game given \u201cthings have bubbled over at Adelaide Oval before\u201d with two \u201cpassionate\u201d fan bases in attendance.<\/p>\n
Collingwood great Nathan Buckley responded: \u201cI think the supporter base are going to be on edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you haven\u2019t already, people in Adelaide are going to want tickets to see this game. This is theatre at its best.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s two sides that absolutely want to win and get that opportunity to get into a prelim. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith the history, you can\u2019t avoid it. You\u2019ve got to embrace it and understand that\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Shocking!’: Ray dissects dubious calls | 05:21<\/p>\n
The minor premiers will also play their first final at Adelaide Oval since 2017, with Crows coach Matthew Nicks expecting an \u201cemotional\u201d sell-out crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teams will go in and we\u2019ll all just play our hearts out. I can\u2019t talk about what you\u2019ll get from the other side of the fence though,\u201d Nicks said on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people don\u2019t necessarily have all the information and the detail around it, there\u2019s often a lot of different emotion that comes with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get a feeling Thursday night will be quite an emotional night for a lot of people, at least 50,000 odd. <\/p>\n
\u201cThough it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if a lot of Collingwood fans are getting online trying to get tickets, because they do come with quite an army. It will be interesting how many of them do get over to SA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Could Curnow be set for a Sydney stint? | 02:04<\/p>\n
Ralph also revealed the decision to send Rankine to Italy was for the betterment of both the player and club to avoid a \u201ccircus\u201d ahead of the Crows\u2019 finals campaign. <\/p>\n
\u201cAdelaide knows the optics of him fleeing overseas for a training camp are ordinary,\u201d Ralph added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they\u2019ve done so for two reasons. They know anywhere he trains within Australia in the next week or two, he will be followed by that same media glare he\u2019s desperate to try and avoid. He wants a circuit breaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re also keen to avoid what would be a circus with him training with the club as they try and lock in on a massive clash against Collingwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s linked up with a connection of (fitness boss) Darren Burgess, who has those EPL links. This is a club with three live sides, they\u2019re very keen to not take a member of their staff across to train with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicks said he \u201cspoke at length\u201d with Rankine about what would be the most thing for his preparation in the event that he returns this season. <\/p>\n
As Rankine still has three more matches from his suspension to serve, the only way he could play again this season is if Adelaide loses the qualifying final and makes the grand final.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a small chance there (Rankine returns), so we wanted to do whatever we felt would put him in the best position,\u201d Nicks said. <\/p>\n
\u201cKeep in mind this is a guy who hadn\u2019t left his house for five or six days over the last week. Media parked outside the front of his house constantly watching him and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cIzak understands what he did was wrong and it was a mistake and he\u2019s regretful for that. But we wanted to make sure if that small chance arrived, we set him up for success.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gone to a really high-level training facility overseas, because it allowed him to get the work done he needed. We know in the country here people are going to find him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be back before the guys play Thursday night. Because he wants to be there with the team and make sure he gets around them. And does whatever he can to try and help us get across the line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adelaide Oval security is set to be tightened when the Crows host Collingwood in next Thursday\u2019s qualifying final,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3443,9126,64,63,689,55,70892,684,1129,70891,10133,70888,10128,2057,19099,13213,70887,69831,70890,70889,2105,11288,70894,2328,1823,681,3514,64895,32920,677,70886,69935,45628,64903,70893,60969,70885,1124,3595,85,68900,7200,12153],"class_list":["post-96412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adelaide","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-banned-star","tag-ben-cotton","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-circuit-breaker","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-compelling-medical-submissions","tag-dan-houston","tag-europe","tag-finals-campaign","tag-finals-series","tag-fitness-boss","tag-flag-contenders","tag-formal-complaint","tag-four-match-due","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-final","tag-high-level-training-facility","tag-italy","tag-jack-riewoldt","tag-jon-ralph","tag-jordan-dawson","tag-maya-thompson","tag-media-spotlight","tag-oceania","tag-overseas-trip","tag-pies-slide","tag-powder-keg","tag-qualifying-final","tag-rankine-returns","tag-ray-chamberlain","tag-security-provisions","tag-south-australia","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-supporter-base","tag-sydney-swans","tag-wayne-milera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96412","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=96412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}