Fair dinkum, Izak Rankine has had plenty of time to think about what comes next. When Adelaide take on the Western Bulldogs on Friday night, Rankine will play his first game in seven months after serving out his ban.
The journey back hasn't been straightforward. Rankine received a four-game suspension for a slur against Collingwood's Isaac Quaynor in an August 16 match last season. What might seem like a relatively short ban carried enormous weight for the 25-year-old forward. Rankine has told of wanting to quit the AFL after his homophobic slur, saying: "The turning point was being at the bottom and thinking what else: I can either just sit here, wave the white flag and give up. Because I wanted to retire, I wanted to finish and I was like: 'I don't want to do this no more, I'm done'".
But something shifted during those quiet months away from the game. According to his coach Matthew Nicks, Rankine is more motivated and "very motivated," adding "I'm not saying he wasn't motivated prior, but just to another level". Nicks explained that Rankine knew from the start: "This is what I will serve and this is the time I will be back and I'll make sure I'm ready to go, I want to be the best for my teammates that I possibly can be".
What's struck Nicks most isn't just the hunger on the training track. The coach commended the 25-year-old for returning and working to improve away from the field, noting "Izak has done a hell of a lot of work on what he's doing off-field, he's an incredible human". That off-field work matters. Rankine is the sixth AFL player in 16 months to receive a suspension after using homophobic slurs on the field, and one incident alone doesn't capture the bigger picture of what's happening in football.
Still, Rankine faces a practical test on Friday: match fitness. Nicks acknowledged Rankine may struggle with match fitness against the Bulldogs, but said "he's also got a different game: he's explosive, he's an endurance athlete with elite speed, so we will just let him loose". That explosive edge could be exactly what Adelaide needs when they take the field.
Look, people can debate whether four games is the right penalty for what Rankine did. That conversation deserves to happen. But his comeback isn't just about football. It's about whether someone genuinely reckons with a mistake, does the work to change, and emerges different on the other side. That's the real test ahead.