Player Watch #20 Riak Andrew

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

This will be a tough lesson for Riak. He is going to have to go away and rebuild the trust of his supporters and his teammates while likely feeling somewhat on the outer. How he responds will mark his development as a man. I hope he comes back stronger and better and more aware.

Of course, it is not as tough as being a young gay boy who just found out one of his favourite players sees homosexuality as something to be ashamed of (I don’t profess to know this is what Riak actually thinks, in fact I suspect it is not true if you take the Swans statement at face value, but this is not doubt how a young gay boy may perceive it).

By my calculation, about 3,000 people who follow the swans are gay boys still finding their way in the world (assuming 1 million supporters, with 20% under 18 and about 3% of those gay). If even only 1% were aware of and admired Riak, then that is 30 boys having a rough time right now. And there are thousands learning about this in the news.

How sad that some phrase Riak probably heard and used countless times while growing up could cause so much harm. I hope some of the older players are getting around him, and I hope he is able to share his lessons to help stop the cycle.

 

[Kiama Chris]

This will be a touch lesson for Riak. He is going to have to go away and rebuild the trust of his supporters and his teammates while likely feeling somewhat on the outer. How he responds will mark his development as a man. I hope he comes back stronger and better and more aware.

Of course, it is not as tough as being a young gay boy who just found out one of his favourite players sees homosexuality as something to be ashamed of (I don’t profess to know this is what Riak actually thinks, in fact I suspect it is not true if you take the Swans statement at face value, but this is not doubt how a young gay boy may perceive it).

By my calculation, about 3,000 people who follow the swans are gay boys still finding their way in the world (assuming 1 million supporters, with 20% under 18 and about 3% of those gay). If even only 1% were aware of and admired Riak, then that is 30 boys having a rough time right now. And there are thousands learning about this in the news.

How sad that some phrase Riak probably heard and used countless times while growing up could cause so much harm. I hope some of the older players are getting around him, and I hope he is able to share his lessons to help stop the cycle.

Imagine too putting it alongside the racism that Riak himself has most likely experienced.
I'd be pretty sure that the lesson will be well absorbed and that he bounces back a better person.

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Imagine too putting it alongside the racism that Riak himself has most likely experienced.
I'd be pretty sure that the lesson will be well absorbed and that he bounces back a better person.

Bouncing back a better person would certainly be one tick in the box. But he also needs to come back a better football player.

He’s been clearly struggling at VFL level & I suspect was frustrated with his own performance.

Has plenty of positive athletic traits - but at this stage of his development, just lacks the strength and footy smarts to compete against seasoned players.

 

[grimlock]

Looking up the suspensions for similar offences in chronological order

Alastair Clarkson 2 games Mar 2024
Jeremy Finlayson

11

Jeremy Finlayson

Age

29

Ht

197cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.5

3star

K

9.9

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.4

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

7.0

1star

K

7.0

3star

HB

0.0

1star

M

1.0

1star

T

2.0

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

18.4

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

5.8

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.0

1star

3 games Apr 2024
Wil Powell

27

Wil Powell

Age

26

Ht

188cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.2

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

5.2

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.2

4star

MG

161.0

3star

D

11.8

3star

K

5.2

2star

HB

6.7

4star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.2

2star

MG

156.7

3star

D

8.8

3star

K

5.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.6

4star

MG

133.2

3star

5 games May 2024
Lance Collard (VFL) 6 games Jul 2024
Jack Graham

17

Jack Graham

Age

27

Ht

181cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

6.8

4star

M

2.1

2star

T

6.3

5star

CL

1.8

4star

D

11.8

3star

K

5.3

2star

HB

6.5

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

4.2

5star

CL

1.2

4star

D

14.0

4star

K

6.0

3star

HB

8.0

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

7.0

5star

CL

3.2

5star

4 games Jul 2025

Graham received a lesser sentence because he self-reported and was said to be contrite for his actions. I think we should expect at least 6 games for Andrew but likely will be more.

 

[zyzzbruh]

This will be a tough lesson for Riak. He is going to have to go away and rebuild the trust of his supporters and his teammates while likely feeling somewhat on the outer. How he responds will mark his development as a man. I hope he comes back stronger and better and more aware.

Of course, it is not as tough as being a young gay boy who just found out one of his favourite players sees homosexuality as something to be ashamed of (I don’t profess to know this is what Riak actually thinks, in fact I suspect it is not true if you take the Swans statement at face value, but this is not doubt how a young gay boy may perceive it).

By my calculation, about 3,000 people who follow the swans are gay boys still finding their way in the world (assuming 1 million supporters, with 20% under 18 and about 3% of those gay). If even only 1% were aware of and admired Riak, then that is 30 boys having a rough time right now. And there are thousands learning about this in the news.

How sad that some phrase Riak probably heard and used countless times while growing up could cause so much harm. I hope some of the older players are getting around him, and I hope he is able to share his lessons to help stop the cycle.

With a bit of perspective no one should be offended. These terms that get thrown around aren't used for the intent of it's literal meaning. Being blown completely out of proportion. Like yeah fine give him a game or two as a wake up call to be more mindful of the use of these words (im not saying they shouldn't be phased out), but to throw up anything beyond 2 weeks let alone 6 is farcical.

Can tell you right now, no one gives a flying ****, his teammates will be laughing about the sanction and he doesn't need to rebuild the trust of anyone. Tom Harley doesn't give a **** either, he's just got his corporate hat on when doing these shpiels. Also, you're suggesting that in your sample size of 30 gay people, all 30 will be offended by it. 1% of that 30 will probably give a shit, even they have enough perspective to know the true intent of these insults.

 

[ashep]

 

[Adnico26Parker]

Looking up the suspensions for similar offences in chronological order

Alastair Clarkson 2 games Mar 2024
Jeremy Finlayson 3 games Apr 2024
Wil Powell 5 games May 2024
Lance Collard (VFL) 6 games Jul 2024
Jack Graham 4 games Jul 2025

Graham received a lesser sentence because he self-reported and was said to be contrite for his actions. I think we should expect at least 6 games for Andrew but likely will be more.

So Riak also self-reported and is contrite, but he deserves more than 6 weeks

EDIT: statement does not say self-reported, but admits he did use it. Full details on how it came about are unclear.

 

[grimlock]

So Riak also self-reported and is contrite, but he deserves more than 6 weeks

The club statement doesn’t mention anything about self-reporting.

 

[MF]

What a ****ing idiot. It blows my mind that casual homophobic slurs are still a thing in 2025.

I’m in my mid-40s now. When I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s that kind of language was pretty common in the schoolyard. I’m not proud of it, but back then a lot of us used “gay” as a catch-all insult for things we didn’t like. It was ignorant, but we were young, and thankfully, we were educated. By the time I was Riak’s age, that shit was long gone from my vocabulary and from my friends too.

So how are we still having this conversation decades later?

 

[Adnico26Parker]

The club statement doesn’t mention anything about self-reporting.

I have edited my post to correct how the slur was reported, as that is unclear due to the AFL's investigation.

But the point still stands - more than 6 weeks is more than Collard received for making multiple homophobic slurs in one VFL game.

 

[Wheresbuddy]

What a ****ing idiot. It blows my mind that casual homophobic slurs are still a thing in 2025.

I’m in my mid-40s now. When I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s that kind of language was pretty common in the schoolyard. I’m not proud of it, but back then a lot of us used “gay” as a catch-all insult for things we didn’t like. It was ignorant, but we were young, and thankfully, we were educated. We learned why that kind of language is harmful, and by the time I was Riak’s age, that shit was long gone from my vocabulary and from my friends too.

So how are we still having this conversation decades later?

Im around footy through my 15yo son and netball through my 13yo daughter. Hate to say it but the use of gay and various other slurs is still pretty common place in the school yard and sporting arena amongst teenagers, both boys and girls. Racist slurs are also still prevalent. They receive so much education around these issues these days yet they still do it. I put it in large part down to their under developed brains and I think no amount of awareness and education is going to significantly change it. And to think, some people want to let them vote at age 16...........

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Disappointing but I'm confident he'll learn from it and won't do it again.

 

[grimlock]

I have edited my post to correct how the slur was reported, as that is unclear due to the AFL's investigation.

But the point still stands - more than 6 weeks is more than Collard received for making multiple homophobic slurs in one VFL game.

I should have explained why I think he'll get more than 6 - it's based on this quote from Andrew Dillon. And my listing of the length of suspensions was trying to illustrate this point.

Dillon warned players of more severe sanctions for homophobic slurs in future.

"You will see the sanctions increasing until we don't have it any more," Dillon told reporters in Perth on Wednesday.

AFL bans St Kilda's Lance Collard for six matches for using homophobic slurs

First-year St Kilda player Lance Collard is suspended for six games after directing homophobic slurs towards two opponents in a VFL game.

www.abc.net.au

 

[bedford]

Looking up the suspensions for similar offences in chronological order

Alastair Clarkson 2 games Mar 2024
Jeremy Finlayson 3 games Apr 2024
Wil Powell 5 games May 2024
Lance Collard (VFL) 6 games Jul 2024
Jack Graham 4 games Jul 2025

Graham received a lesser sentence because he self-reported and was said to be contrite for his actions. I think we should expect at least 6 games for Andrew but likely will be more.

What did Clarkson say

 

[grimlock]

What did Clarkson say

Clarkson under AFL investigation after outburst

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson is under AFL investigation and facing possible suspension amid allegations he directed a foul-mouthed outburst towards the umpires' bench during a match.

www.espn.com.au

The 55-year-old used the homophobic slur "c*******er" during that exchange with the Saints players and was hit with a $20,000 fine, as well as a two-match ban, which was suspended until the end of the 2025 season.

 

[caesar88]

For me a lot of this stuff has to do with one's upbringing. Not just familial in relation to their parents, but socially too, with their schooling, junior footy, friend groups. I've grown up knowing LGBTQ people, having LGBTQ mates, my whole life. So it's just the way I'm hard-wired that homophobic slurs simply aren't a part of my vernacular. If I wanted to insult someone - even in the heat of the moment - my brain would go to a thousand different insults before it would go to a homophobic slur.

So I don't buy that it's just a slip of the tongue or a figure-of-speech. IMO language is always reflective of thought & values. It's just a question of how reflective it is. In this case, hopefully it is not much. Worst case scenario, outright bigotry. Best case scenario, ignorance. The benefit of the doubt would skew towards the latter.

The reality is that a lot of players in the AFL system have only ever been in environments that are overwhelmingly, heteronormatively male. Multiple players I've known who have been in the system barely have a single mate that is female, and none that were LGBTQ. Copy that same dynamic and then paste it into a private, all-boys school such as that which Andrew attended - where toxic masculinity festers probably moreso than in any other environment in the country (besides maybe the halls of Parliament) - and it's really not hard to see why there are so many cases of AFL players who can't fathom how their words or actions can be harmful to those groups. In an ideal world, the response to something or someone you don't understand would be compassion, but it's not an ideal world we live in, and too often the response instead is mockery & otherism. That's how it trickles down into every day language, like slurs.

For the record, this is not me giving the individuals involved a free pass. You do it/say it, you absolutely deserve the punishment. I just think the individuals are merely products of a larger, more nefarious issue that predates the time any of them are even drafted.

In the same way that when those GWS players were suspended for their Mad Monday antics, my concern was not that those specific players were going to go out committing sexual assaults, but more what sort of environments those specific players have been in that have led them to think that sexual assault is a laughing matter. And how not-unique those environments are, all across Australia.

Such a long way to go...

 

[bedford]

Welcome back 88

 

[giantsully]

Looking up the suspensions for similar offences in chronological order

Alastair Clarkson 2 games Mar 2024
Jeremy Finlayson 3 games Apr 2024
Wil Powell 5 games May 2024
Lance Collard (VFL) 6 games Jul 2024
Jack Graham 4 games Jul 2025

Graham received a lesser sentence because he self-reported and was said to be contrite for his actions. I think we should expect at least 6 games for Andrew but likely will be more.

Jack Graham is an experienced long term AFL footballer and Collard's instance as I understand it was at the extreme level. Hoping that they go easy on a young fella.

 

[zyzzbruh]

For me a lot of this stuff has to do with one's upbringing. Not just familial in relation to their parents, but socially too, with their schooling, junior footy, friend groups. I've grown up knowing LGBTQ people, having LGBTQ mates, my whole life. So it's just the way I'm hard-wired that homophobic slurs simply aren't a part of my vernacular. If I wanted to insult someone - even in the heat of the moment - my brain would go to a thousand different insults before it would go to a homophobic slur.

So I don't buy that it's just a slip of the tongue or a figure-of-speech. IMO language is always reflective of thought & values. It's just a question of how reflective it is. In this case, hopefully it is not much. Worst case scenario, outright bigotry. Best case scenario, ignorance. The benefit of the doubt would skew towards the latter.

The reality is that a lot of players in the AFL system have only ever been in environments that are overwhelmingly, heteronormatively male. Multiple players I've known who have been in the system barely have a single mate that is female, and none that were LGBTQ. Copy that same dynamic and then paste it into a private, all-boys school such as that which Andrew attended - where toxic masculinity festers probably moreso than in any other environment in the country (besides maybe the halls of Parliament) - and it's really not hard to see why there are so many cases of AFL players who can't fathom how their words or actions can be harmful to those groups. In an ideal world, the response to something or someone you don't understand would be compassion, but it's not an ideal world we live in, and too often the response instead is mockery & otherism. That's how it trickles down into every day language, like slurs.

For the record, this is not me giving the individuals involved a free pass. You do it/say it, you absolutely deserve the punishment. I just think the individuals are merely products of a larger, more nefarious issue that predates the time any of them are even drafted.

In the same way that when those GWS players were suspended for their Mad Monday antics, my concern was not that those specific players were going to go out committing sexual assaults, but more what sort of environments those specific players have been in that have led them to think that sexual assault is a laughing matter. And how not-unique those environments are, all across Australia.

Such a long way to go...

I have slurs in my vernacular that are offensive to my own heritage. Sticks and stones.

How long until 'he' and 'her' are no longer part of your vernacular? as they are now highly offensive slurs. The lines will always be blurred, so the only thing that matters is intention, and i'd be highly confident that every player who has been sanctioned for a homophobic slur did not actually deliver it with homophobic intention. I'm sorry but clarko saying 'C*******r' is in no way shape or form homophobic.

 

[bedford]

I have slurs in my vernacular that are offensive to my own heritage. Sticks and stones.

How long until 'he' and 'her' are no longer part of your vernacular? as they are now highly offensive slurs. The lines will always be blurred, so the only thing that matters is intention, and i'd be highly confident that every player who has been sanctioned for a homophobic slur did not actually deliver it with homophobic intention. I'm sorry but clarko saying 'C*******r' is in no way shape or form homophobic.

Please don't make sense

 

[caesar88]

I have slurs in my vernacular that are offensive to my own heritage. Sticks and stones.

How long until 'he' and 'her' are no longer part of your vernacular? as they are now highly offensive slurs. The lines will always be blurred, so the only thing that matters is intention, and i'd be highly confident that every player who has been sanctioned for a homophobic slur did not actually deliver it with homophobic intention.

That is an incredibly bold assumption, to assume that every person who uses homophobic slurs doesn't have homophobic intent.

But you're completely missing the point of why language matters. It's not about the person saying the slur, or their intent. It's about the person on the receiving end of it, and how it makes them feel. Regardless of intent, slurs are slurs because of their use to hurt, degrade and isolate vulnerable people throughout history.

I often jokingly call myself a "wog." But I'll admit, when others call me it, I have a moment of pause where I think... were they joking, or do they actually think less of my heritage and my culture? Now Italians have been nowhere near as persecuted in society as the LGBTQ community, so I only have a brief moment of pause and then I get on with my day. I imagine that it feels like that, but ten, fifty, a hundred times worse for a gay person who has to carry that fear and that burden around with them every day.

It goes back to compassion, really, and why you seem to care more about what Andrew's intent was than what the ramifications of such language can be. One shouldn't have to belong to a community to understand why certain things are hurtful to them.

 

[bedford]

What is he was called something ? just asking

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I think you can believe multiple things are once.

I believe:

• What Riak said was harmful
• What Riak said is not a huge indictment on his character
• There is a part of me that feels sorry for Riak
• There is a another part of me that thinks he’s an idiot for using that language
• Impact matters
• Intent also matters
• 4 or more weeks is harsh
• 4 or more weeks may be needed to stamp out this language

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

What exactly does suspending him do other than appease those looking for blood its not going to prevent another person hurling a insult in the heat of frustration on a sporting field.

I think a public apology to the player and education is much more productive.

 

[.Shotties.]

What exactly does suspending him do other than appease those looking for blood its not going to prevent another person hurling a insult in the heat of frustration on a sporting field.

I think a public apology to the player and education is much more productive.

All these things can happen.