The Gold Coast Suns have teed off over Izak Rankine’s looming trade to the Adelaide Crows after the 22-year-old’s head was turned by a big-money supply to play in his hometown.
The previous No.3 AFL draft decide had his greatest season but in 2022, kicking 29 targets because the Suns compiled the strongest marketing campaign of their historical past.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Suns chairman says he feels ‘kicked in the guts’ by Rankine name
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However Rankine has opted out of their future after going again and forth over gives that had been up to $150,000 aside on annual wage.
Whereas the trade request has not blindsided Gold Coast it did set off a wave of disappointment that they won’t see the advantages of their early funding in his profession.
Chairman Tony Cochrane even agreed it felt like he had been ‘kicked in the guts’.
“Incredibly disappointing because there’s so many people around our club that gave Izak an awful lot of time,” he informed Sportsday on Thursday.
“I recall his first year when they discovered that he had a bit of an arthritic hip issue, pelvic area issue, the time and trouble we went to medically to try and get to the bottom of that and get him sorted for life, not just for footy, and he didn’t play in that first year. It goes right back to those days.
“(Senior coach) Stuey Dew has put in a phenomenal amount of time with this kid, Stuey’s been like a second dad to him. He’s helped him in so many ways, get around and get involved, and he’s also helped him enormously with his football.
“There’s a lot of very disappointed people up here and I know a lot of his playing mates felt they were all in this together and they felt that he was in this with them and go forward with them.
“There you go. Money talks, huh … it’s sport all over the world now, somebody else with a bigger wallet comes along and makes it pretty hard.”
Rankine’s choice adopted an sincere assembly between the younger gun and Suns leaders Touk Miller, Sean Lemmens, Jarrod Witts and David Swallow.
The 4 Gold Coast veterans pulled out all of the stops in a bid to keep away from seeing Rankine be part of an extended record of exits, together with Tom Lynch, Steven Could, Dion Prestia, Charlie Dixon, Adam Saad, Jack Martin and Jaeger O’Meara.
Simply as Cochrane mentioned he felt Rankine owed the membership, Miller revealed that view was shared with the in-demand star.
“I’ll be honest, it is disappointing. We felt like Izak, we put a lot of time into him,” the captain mentioned on the AFL Awards evening.
“For the player that he is and going to become, I feel like we had a massive hand in that and trying to create that and surround him with a culture where he can thrive and he can relish.
“He’s really just started to give us the goods towards the end (of the season) there. I’ll be honest it does hurt, it is disappointing. We did try our best to keep him.
“We literally just gave him our honest opinion and how we felt and why we felt with where his spot was in our club and how important he was to us succeeding and how much of a loss it is if he doesn’t play for us.”
Talking on SEN the next day, Miller added: “I know these things happen in footy. For us it just probably stung that little bit more because we felt like we’ve given him a lot and were waiting to reap the rewards of that.”
Crows’ supply sparks nice debate
Rankine’s arrival in Adelaide will comply with Jordan Dawson’s transfer from the Sydney Swans to the Crows final yr, with the membership out of the blue assured it may proceed to lure South Australian expertise house.
“(Rankine is) a highly talented player. I just make the point – Jordan Dawson last year, Rankine this year – Adelaide, destination club,” membership president John Olsen mentioned.
However Rankine’s looming standing as one of many highest earners on the Crows, if not the No.1, has rankled some within the AFL neighborhood.
Footy legend Wayne Carey, who performed for the membership in 2003 and 2004, mentioned the $800,000 supply moved Adelaide into harmful territory.
“You know what I found astounding? The Adelaide Crows had some superstars, the McLeods, the Ricciutos, the Goodwins, the Edwards, Ben Hart, they had some absolute guns at this footy club,” the 7AFL commentator mentioned on Triple M.
“But there was a pecking order in how you were paid. That got thrown out the window with (the cap-breaching re-signing of) Kurt Tippett, and Goodwin and a few others at the time weren’t happy because they offered him this other amount.
“This footy club, now, to offer someone like Rankine $800,000 to come in, it goes against everything that they’ve set up.
“I know they’ve done it a couple of times before. But this is completely throwing everything they’ve done for a very long time – $800,000 a year for a small forward that’s still not proven yet.”
Carey mentioned he didn’t begrudge the “very talented” Rankine taking the supply and is “rapt for him” however reiterated the membership might put themselves in some bother down the road.
“Grabbing players from other clubs and paying them big amounts and putting them on long contracts, and all of a sudden saying ‘you’re not worth it’,” he warned.
Collingwood premiership participant Dale Thomas believes that won’t be the case with Rankine.
“He’s probably like a Shai Bolton, with that sort of upside to go through the midfield,” he mentioned.
“In three years’ time, if he becomes one of the best players in the comp, $850,000 is an absolute steal.”
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