Adelaide veteran Taylor Walker says teammate Izak Rankine will “accept whatever comes his way” when the AFL wraps up its investigation into his alleged homophobic slur.

Rankine is in line to miss the entire finals series in what would be a significant blow to the Crows’ premiership hopes.

The situation comes four years after Walker copped a six-game ban for a racial remark towards a North Adelaide player at a SANFL game, with the ex-skipper well aware of the impact of Rankine’s incident.

The pair spoke on the phone on Monday night after Rankine stayed home from the club.

“He’s very remorseful and he understands that he’s made a mistake,” Walker told Triple M Adelaide on Tuesday morning.

“He’ll accept whatever comes his way.

“He hasn’t been outside. He had a full day of investigation with the AFL yesterday.

“I can’t comment on (a sanction). What I can comment on is that our footy club is a very positive and supportive environment and we will support Ranks.

“However we don’t agree with what happened.”

Walker referenced his own experience in declaring there was no excuse for crossing a line.

“When you’re a very good player opposition team players try and put you off your game and Ranks has had to deal with that for a period of time,” he said.

“However, I do not sit here and say that I agree with what happened with Ranks. I don’t accept that and he’s made a mistake and he’ll get a sanction for it.

“But he gets antagonised week in, week out. Things get said to him that probably shouldn’t. Unfortunately that’s the situation.

“Once you start getting going down that line, whether it be family, the colour of your skin — I’ve obviously been on the other side of that — whether it be what sexuality you find yourself with, I think you’re treading on thin ice when you go down that path.

“It’s a bit of fun trying to put your team’s opposition off, but you’ve got to be super, super critical and understanding of who they are, their background and their journey. It’s a very, very touchy subject.”

The ladder-leading Crows have at least three games left this season — this week’s Round 24 clash with North Melbourne and two home finals — but could still play up to five.

A five-game ban for Rankine would be in line with recent suspensions for homophobic slurs.

The league initially came down hard and warned penalties would continue to increase.

But they have since said each case would be assessed individually and “does not consider that it is bound by the level of sanctions that it has previously imposed for similar incidents”.

Last year, Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson served a three-game ban before Gold Coast’s Wil Powell later copped five matches and St Kilda’s Lance Collard was banned for six.

In July this year, West Coast’s Jack Graham was banned for four games after he self-reported a comment made to a GWS opponent while Sydney’s Riak Andrew received a five-match ban.

Rankine has kicked 31 goals for Adelaide this year and will be missed on the field.

“I still think they can win the premiership,” Nick Riewoldt said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“We’ve seen clubs win premierships (without star players) — I think back to West Coast when they won it without Nic Naitanui and Andrew Gaff — it can be done.

“You were cruising, you were absolutely cruising. And he’s the sort of player we’re all desperate to watch in September.”