St Kilda player Lance Collard will have to wait another day to learn his fate after the disciplinary tribunal failed to reach a verdict over his alleged homophobic slur.
After a tense hearing that last three and a half hours, the tribunal deliberated for just under an hour before calling it a night.
They had set a 5pm deadline, which was four hours after the hearing begun, but failed to come to a decision.
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“We’re well advanced in our discussions and deliberations, but not in a position to communicate our position,” tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said.
“We are meeting again tomorrow and will resume our deliberations. We’re confident we’ll be in a position to deliver brief written reasons tomorrow.”
The AFL are asking for a 10-match ban should Collard be found guilty, but the St Kilda player insists he didn’t use the slur.
The incident happened in a VFL game against Frankston on Friday, March 27, and Collard pleaded not guilty, stressing he was used a different word to the one that had been reported.
Collard said he used the word “maggot” and even signed a statutory declaration, but Frankston’s Darby Hipwell told the tribunal that Collard said “f***ing f****t”.
“I could not be more confident in what I heard,” Hipwell told the tribunal.
Hipwell’s teammate Bailey Lambert also said he was “100 per cent” certain Collard had used a homophobic slur.
“I was very, very close (to his face) and looking literally at his face,” Lambert said.
“I said (to the umpire). ‘Umpy, did you hear what he said? He just said the F-word, umpy!’ … I thought we were going to get a 50-metre penalty from it.”
It is the second time Collard has been accused of using such language, with the first incident occurring in 2024 and netting Collard, then 19, a six-week ban.
On that occasion, Collard pleaded guilty and confirmed he used the slur.
In a tense sitting on Thursday, St Kilda representative Michael Borsky grilled Lambert and Hipwell, and even suggested they had swapped notes to agree upon certain language to tell the investigators.
One point of contention was the tone used to describe Collard’s voice, but Lambert dismissed Borsky’s take, and simply said he was coaxed into giving evidence by the AFL’s legal department.
“I wouldn’t be here right now if I thought he might not have said it …. it’s turned into this massive thing, and obviously taken up so much time. I’ve taken time out of work (to be here),” Lambert said.
The words were exchanged during a fracas between the teams, which started when Collard collected Frankston’s Jackson Voss.
Collard told the tribunal that he grabbed Hipwell and said, “come here, maggot.”
“I know they think I’ve said the word f****t because I’ve said it before, but I admitted it last time when I said it … I never said it this time,” he said on Thursday.
“I signed an oath (statutory declaration) during the week about it that I’m being 100 per cent honest. Last time I stood up and admitted it, and took it, I was remorseful … I wouldn’t make the mistake again.”
He said he was aware that making a false statement in a statutory declaration is a criminal offence.
“I’m being 100 per cent honest. I’m not lying,” he said.
Collard also told St Kilda’s Damian Carroll and Lenny Hayes after the match that he had said maggot on the field.
When questioned by the AFL counsel about using the word maggot, which has been usually preserved for umpires when they were wearing whit, Collard said “he wasn’t even born back in those days” and he and his mates use the word a lot.
In summing up their position, the AFL argued the tribunal should be “comfortably satisfied” the slur was used because Collard had done it before, maggot is nor a familiar term in 2026 on a football field, and it’s unlikely that “come here maggot” was used because he was in the process of letting Hipwell go.
The Saints responded by questioning the AFL’s point about Collard having done it before being critical given that it “contradicts the prospects of rehabilitation and the potential utility of education in this important space.”
They also argued that Collard “voluntarily exposed himself to the risk of perjury in order to clear his name” by getting an oath.
The Saints also said the two Frankston players colluded in their stories, which means they should count as one shared account rather than two separate accounts. They also said they’re not calling those players liars, but they might have been mistaken.
The AFL asked for a 10-match ban given it was a second offence, but the tribunal didn’t reach a verdict and will return on Friday.
Collard has played 15 games at senior level for the Saints since being drafted with pick 28 in 2023.
He remains contracted until the end of next year.
In the wake of his 2024 incident, the 21-year-old said his slur was not a reflection of who he really was.
“I am incredibly remorseful for my comments and any hurt they may have caused,” he said in a statement at the time.
“I’m disappointed in myself and fully accept the consequences for my behaviour.
“What I did doesn’t represent my values, or the values of the club. I have apologised to the Williamstown players who were impacted by my behaviour, and unreservedly reiterate that apology to anyone else my conduct affected.”
