Former Essendon coach James Hird has questioned the timing of Izak Rankine's return from overseas as Adelaide prepares to face Collingwood in a home qualifying final on Thursday night.
Rankine broke his silence on the homophobic slur saga after returning from Italy on Tuesday night.
Rankine, who received a four-game suspension for directing a homophobic slur at a Collingwood player last month, landed at Adelaide Airport and then read out a prepared statement in front of media.
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The 25-year-old, who had fled to Italy for a one-week vacation, did not take any questions.
"I want to start by saying how deeply sorry I am," said Rankine, who was visibly emotional.
"What I said, there was no excuse. It was wrong, and I take full responsibility.
"I'm disappointed in myself, and I know I've let a lot of people down.
"I want to apologise to anyone that I've hurt [or] offended.
"I understand that word is offensive, it's harmful, it's hurtful, and it has no place in our game or our society.
"I am in no way a victim, but going away has given me the space to reflect and educate myself to understand the weight of my mistake, and I'm fully committed to bettering myself in that area."
The Crows will on Thursday night feature in their first final since 2017, when they reached the grand final but lost to Richmond.
"That's my question: why would he come back [on Tuesday]?" Hird said on Nine's Footy Classified.
"What he said, that was well done, but today or tomorrow or before the game, I just think that's disruptive to the team.
"It's not about when they run out on the ground; it's training tomorrow, main session tomorrow. When that ball is bounced, that'll be forgotten.
"The mistake was not to say something before he left."
Adelaide great Rory Sloane agreed with the point raised by Hird, while applauding Rankine's address.
"This could have been avoided if things had have been different last week. They're not, which is going to put the scrutiny back on the club and this situation," Sloane said.
"I take my hat off to Izak there. I respect that apology massively. He's said he's going to talk to the AFLW team, which I love, he said he's going to be there to support the team and the whole footy club, which is all he can do now.
"That was a sincere apology and I loved that it was about other people. He was there to talk to his teammates, he's not the victim, but he was going to be there to support his teammates."
The AFL will have extra security on hand at Adelaide Oval ahead of what could be a fiery meeting between the Pies and Crows.
Before flying out to Italy, Rankine reportedly called Ebony Marinoff, one of Adelaide's AFLW co-captains, as well as Crows AFLW player Chelsea Randall, who is openly gay, to apologise.
On Tuesday night, Rankine said he would address the men's and women's squads in the coming days.
"In the next few days, I'll be standing in front of my [Crows] teammates, the AFLW [squad] and apologising to them personally, as they deserve this at the very least," Rankine said.
The AFL originally decided on a five-game ban, but downgraded it to four matches after Adelaide put forward "compelling medical submissions", in the words of AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon.
Adelaide had been pushing for a three-game suspension.
Rankine will only play again this season if Adelaide loses its qualifying final against Collingwood, then wins its semi-final and preliminary final to reach the grand final.
The only game he is a chance to feature in over the remainder of this season, at this stage, is the grand final.
"From here, all I can do is put my head down, work hard, support my teammates in the best way I can, and show through my actions that I'm growing and learning from my mistake," Rankine said.
"More than anything, I want this club to succeed, so I'll be doing everything I can to gain everyone's trust back, and have a positive impact on society and my supporters.
"Thank you."
In a statement last month, the AFL said Rankine had used "a highly offensive homophobic slur against a Collingwood opponent — language that demeans and denigrates people regardless of their sexuality".
He was ordered to undertake further Pride in Sport training in addition to serving a four-game ban.
Rankine became the sixth AFL-listed player to be sanctioned for using a homophobic slur over the past two seasons, after Jeremy Finlayson, Wil Powell, Lance Collard, Jack Graham and Riak Andrew.
Each of those players received suspensions ranging from three to six matches, depending on factors such as the severity of the slur and whether they self-reported.
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