AFL leaders Darcy Moore and Alex Pearce have joined the chorus of support for former Eagles player Mitch Brown after his announcement as the game's first openly bisexual player.
This week, following the Izak Rankine homophobic slur saga that landed the Adelaide forward a four-week suspension, Brown announced that he is a bisexual man, publicly revealing his sexual orientation to The Daily Aus.
"What matters to me most is a sense of change, a movement created where you can be anyone and feel like you can be anyone and be safe in any environment here in Australia," Brown said.
"My advice to the AFL would be, let's celebrate the players who may not be the most successful, but they're the most important players in our community, the ones who are walking down the street and portraying positive male role models all the time."
Moore, who is also the AFLPA president, declared that he and the association will be working to "move the needle on homophobia".
"It was, firstly, just tremendously courageous, wasn't it? Such an inspiring story," Moore said.
"For (Brown) to be so open and so brave like that, I think it's so important, like I said, I think there's a lot to learn from Mitch's story. For him to share that is a real opportunity for us going forward to shift culture and see some change in the industry.
"Clearly, the amount of on-field incidents over the last few years shows we do still have an issue.
"As a Players' Association, we've been advocating for a long time to work side by side with the league to move the needle on homophobia in the game and making the game safer and more inclusive for everyone.
"I am confident with these recent events, we can do that."
Pearce echoed Moore's words that Brown was courageous in his announcement, and that he hopes it can create a safer and more accepting path forward.
"I think this is a really good step for our code, and quite timely," Pearce said on ABC.
Freo's Alex Pearce thinks Mitch Brown coming out as a bisexual man is a courageous, and timely, act.
"Every time [homophobic slurs] happen, it hurts our game, and it hurts the way that we're seen within general Australian society."
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"Given the discussions of homophobic slurs that's been over the last couple of years. Every time that (homophobic slur) happens, it hurts our game, and it hurts the way we're seen within general Australian society.
"It's incredibly brave from Mitch, and hopefully, it's a real step forward for our game."
