Sloane laments Rankine's 'missed opportunity' over apology

Adelaide Crows great Rory Sloane believes Izak Rankine "missed a massive opportunity" to apologise to the whole club's AFLW group before leaving for Italy.

Rankine has been given a four-match suspension from the AFL for a homophobic slur against Collingwood with Nine's Tom Morris revealing he apologised to Adelaide's AFLW captain Ebony Marinoff and Chelsea Randall for the incident.

However, it was further revealed Crows captain Jordan Dawson was the one who spoke to the whole AFLW group to "reiterate how unacceptable Izak Rankine's remarks were".

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Sloane believes that shouldn't have been up to Dawson.

"First and foremost, that's not fair on Daws, to have to shoulder that for him," he said on Nine's Footy Classified.

"I think Izak missed a massive opportunity to take ownership here. For me, when you make a mistake in life, in any aspect of life, taking ownership is the most pivotal path in moving forward and it was a massive opportunity for him to address the wider community, the AFLW team ... and the playing group as well.

"... if he had of done that before he left, the transition of coming back afterwards and the noise around everything, would've disappeared."

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Sloane added he had no problems with Rankine's trip to Italy to escape the situation and potentially prepare to play in a grand final. 

The former Crows captain retirerated he should've addressed both playing groups before leaving and called on him to "take ownership".

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has confirmed that Rankine will return for the club's qualifying final against Collingwood on September 4 to support the side.