The Gold Coast Bulletin

ECLIPSE OF THE YOUNG SUNS

Nothing fluky about Izak’s freakish finishing

- CHRIS CAVANAGH AND REECE HOMFRAY

SUNS forward Izak Rankine has been rewarded with his three-goal debut by being named the Round 6 Rising Star.

Gold Coast haven’t had three Rising Star nominees in a season since their inaugural AFL campaign in 2011.

The club had four nominated that year but Gold Coast are poised to equal or best it despite the season being reduced to 17 games.

It is another sign of the club’s exciting list that is brimming with young talent. Jaeger O’Meara won the award in 2013 while at Gold Coast and Rankine, Matthew Rowell and Connor Budarick are all in the hunt to become the second.

IZAK Rankine insists his stunning soccer goal for Gold Coast on Saturday night was no fluke.

“I’ve been practising that since I was a baby in the streets with my brothers using trees and poles as goals,” the South Australian-bred talent said.

“We were always trying to be as creative as we could and we’d have a competitio­n of who can kick the most freakish goals.

“The game’s so unpredicta­ble that I want to make sure no matter what situation I get in that I can find the goals.”

The goal was one of three Rankine kicked against Melbourne in a performanc­e Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown labelled “as exciting a debut as I’ve seen”.

Rankine’s night – which also included 12 disposals and eight score involvemen­ts – earned him a nomination for the NAB Rising Star, an award he is now secondfavo­urite to win.

Rankine’s debut came 597 days after the Suns selected him at pick three in the 2018 draft.

Hamstring and hip injuries wiped out his 2019 campaign, and when another hamstring injury hit at the start of this year he feared the worst.

“When I first got injured I didn’t think it would drag on this long but I hurt my hamstring again and again, and it started to build doubts in my mind that I’d ever get back to playing consistent, good footy,” Rankine said.

“When my year started with another hamstring, I started thinking about last year and how that all went down and I was just praying it wouldn’t go that way again.”

Rankine worked with Suns psychologi­st Tristan Coulter as seemingly never-ending stints of rehab took their toll.

“I saw a lot of the boys come in rehab and then leave rebab,” he said.

“I made sure I had the support around me and didn’t let those four walls close in on me.

“But now my body’s as strong as ever and I’m as fit as I ever was.”

Rankine has moved in with teammate Sam Collins,

who has become a mentor.

“He’s just been a good role model for me,” Rankine said.

“He’s taught me that much. He’s pretty much the ultimate profession­al and he’s there to make sure I’m staying on track off the field.”

Teammates describe Rankine as a TikTok loving, guitar playing, rap singing, quiet but cheeky kid with a sense of humour. His manager, Dimitris

Parhas, said Rankine needed the latter to get through 2019.

“No doubt it was frustratin­g for him, he worked so bloody hard on so many occasions,”

Parhas said.

“Not many know this but after Round 1 when the competitio­n was put on hold, he only came back to Adelaide for two weeks then he elected to go back early, he went back up (to the Coast) and lived and trained with Sam Collins and focused purely on his return.”

Rankine’s parents Ronald and Kerry made the trip to Sydney for his debut and Parhas spoke to him twice beforehand.

“He called me to let me know he’d been selected on the Thursday and it was a pretty emotional moment, to be honest because it had been a long time coming and he’d been through a fair bit,” Parhas said.

“He’s such a good kid whenever he comes back to Adelaide my wife cooks a big Greek meal for him and he loves singing songs with my kids, so on the Friday we sent him a nice good luck message. After the game we were texting and he was on cloud nine, and he still is.”

 ?? Picture: RYAN PIERSE/AFL PHOTOS ?? The Suns’ Izak Rankine celebrates after kicking his first AFL goal during the Round 6 clash with Melbourne.
Picture: RYAN PIERSE/AFL PHOTOS The Suns’ Izak Rankine celebrates after kicking his first AFL goal during the Round 6 clash with Melbourne.
 ?? Picture: CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGES ?? Gold Coast debutant Izak Rankine swoops on a loose ball against Melbourne at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday.
Picture: CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGES Gold Coast debutant Izak Rankine swoops on a loose ball against Melbourne at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday.

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