Former Brisbane Lion, SAFNL great Leigh Ryswyk becomes first past or present player to come out as gay
Rob Keskin
Former Brisbane Lion and SANFL champion Leigh Ryswyk has made history by becoming the first male AFL player, past or present, to come out as openly gay.
Ryswyk played one game for the Lions in 2005 but was delisted at the end of the season after suffering a quad strain on his debut against Fremantle. He completed a stellar career in the SANFL, where he played 226 games for North Adelaide and was later inducted into the Queensland Football Hall of Fame.
Ryswyk, born in Victoria, He revealed he is gay during an interview on Wednesday GayFL on LGBTQI broadcaster JOY 94.9.
“For those who know me, my closest friends, this is nothing new,” the 41-year-old told the station.
“I’ve been out for five years. There will still be people, if they listen to this, they’ll find out about it for the first time; I’m a very private person, so it’s not on all my social media and stuff like that, and that’s okay.”
His decision follows that of former West Coast player Mitch Brown, who came out as bisexual in late 2025 and became the league’s first openly bisexual player.
“It might be a little shocking to some people, they might not know… but that’s life, right?” said Ryswyk.
JOY asked him what the AFL could do to support other players who might emerge in the future.
“I think the AFL and the community will embrace this player,” Ryswyk said.
“I think the community itself, of course the queer community, the fan base, I think they will celebrate this in general when the time comes.”
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Rob Keskin He is the online editor of The AgeConnect with: X or email.
