FORMER Brisbane player and SANFL stalwart Leigh Ryswyk has revealed publicly that he is gay.
Ryswyk played one game for the Lions in 2005 after being drafted as a rookie out of Southport.
He was delisted by the Lions at the end of that season and went on to enjoy a long career in the SANFL, playing 226 games for North Adelaide, including a reserves premiership in 2018.
He has since been inducted into the AFL Queensland Football Hall of Fame.
Ryswyk follows in the footsteps of former West Coast defender Mitch Brown, who revealed last year that he is bisexual. Brown was the first male to play at AFL level to publicly reveal that he is gay or bisexual.
In an interview with the GayFL show on LGBTQIA+ broadcaster JOY 94.9, Ryswyk said he'd been open about his sexuality to those close to him for some time.
He said he believes should a player reveal they are gay or bisexual while still playing in the AFL, they would be embraced by both the football and queer communities.
"I think the AFL, and the community, will wrap their arms around that player ... I think the community itself, obviously the queer community, the fan base, I think in the whole they will celebrate that when the time comes," he said.
Ryswyk opened up on his own journey, saying the reaction of his parents when he told them of his sexuality 'blew him away'.
"When you come our to your family it's always a massive experience, there's a lot of things going on in your head ... it took me a little while where I was comfortable enough to do this, probably a three year period to be honest, so there was a lot of the mental side of things going through at the same time," he said.
"I had the opportunity to sit down with Mum and talk to her about it, and let her know, which was massive. She obviously was crying, I was crying, and she goes, 'I still love you', so for me, that was a 'wow' moment.
"Then opening up to your dad ... now that experience was one of the biggest things for me, but his reaction was something that blew me away, to be honest. I really didn't know what to expect, but he was like, 'I love you, it doesn't matter, as long as you're happy, I'm happy for you'. That blew me away, to be honest.
"To people who know me, my closest friends, this is not new; I've been out for five years now.
"There will be people though, if they do listen to this, it will be the first time they know about this; I'm a very private person, so it's not all over my social media, and things like that, and that's fine.
"It can be a bit of a shock to some people, they might not know that, but that's life right? In the end, the people who are nearest and closest to me know, and that's what's most important."
