Overview
- The AFL scheduled a disciplinary hearing for next week under Rule 2.3(a), which covers conduct unbecoming, to examine a claim Collard used a homophobic slur in a VFL game against Frankston, with the date and chair still to be announced.
- Collard denies using a slur and says he called the opponent “a maggot,” a stance he has maintained with league investigators.
- The hearing would be the first known AFL disciplinary case centered on an alleged homophobic slur.
- In the same match, Collard received a three-game ban reduced to two with an early guilty plea for a high swinging arm that struck Jackson Voss.
- Possible penalties range from fines to suspension, and some voices have urged St Kilda to end his contract if he is found guilty.