Schoolyard to stardom: The AFL beckons for Henley High students Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine
MEET the two Henley High teenagers who are ready to take the AFL by storm.
FIRST they were opponents — a couple of primary school kids chasing a footy and each other around ovals in Adelaide’s western suburbs. But then fate took a hand and threw them together at Henley High — same class, same footy team — the perfect school for any kid with a sporting dream in his heart.
And Izak Rankine and Jack Lukosius certainly have that. Fresh from together helping South Australia win the national Under-18 championship, and Henley its first state knockout cup in almost four decades, the pair are the now in contention to be the first player selected at November’s AFL national draft in Melbourne.
There’s a friendly rivalry between the 18- year-olds to be top pick, but the pair of Crows fans also hope they might yet stay as team- mates and laud the other’s talents.
“Once Izak’s on the field, he’s there to play and to win,” says the 195cm blond Lukosius, who’s been likened to ex-St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt. “Obviously he’s freakish with some of the things he can do, but without the work ethic and competitiveness, he wouldn’t be the superstar that he is.”
Rankine, with a proud indigenous heritage, is shorter at 180cm and wins comparisons to the likes of legends Eddie Betts and Andrew McLeod. “Awesome,” is how he describes his Henley classmate. “I never asked to be stuck with Jack but I’m glad it turned out this way.”
All 18 clubs in the AFL have been talking to them, and their abilities have football experts reaching for the dictionary to find the right superlatives, from “freakish talents” to “once in a generation footballers”.
“It’s unusual to get one player with their type of talent coming through the system, let alone two in the same year,” says SA’s under-18 coach and talent manager Tony Bamford, who in July led the Croweaters to their first AFL Under-18 Division One Championship since 2014.
“It’s a unique situation. We’ve not only got two players of such high quality in the same age group in the same state team but they are also at the same school, classmates. That doesn’t happen too often.”
No SA player has been picked first at the annual Australian football lottery since Glenelg’s Bryce Gibbs, who is now at Adelaide, went to Carlton in 2006. About 80 of Australia’s most talented young footballers will be selected at this year’s national draft.
Lukosius plays league football with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens, and AFL talent ambassador and long-time draft expert Kevin Sheehan says the key forward is the best tall man for his age since Riewoldt — the No. 1 draft pick in 2000 — burst onto the scene nearly two decades ago.
“He’s a very special talent, that Nick Riewoldt-type lead-up player,” says Sheehan. “But he can also dominate across half-back. We’ve seen him do that at national under-16 level, and I’ve even seen him dominate on a wing. He can be thrown around to play just about anywhere and he’s as good a kick at under-age level for a taller guy as we’ve ever seen.
“Boys of his size don’t normally kick the ball as well as he does. His field kicking in general is quite special. He can make the classy, exceptional things look easy, which makes him a pretty spectacular type of player.”
Rankine fits in as a small forward or midfielder, an excitement machine who was a mainstay in West Adelaide’s league team this year, and lauded as a combination of Crows star Betts, Adelaide’s dual Norm Smith Medallist McLeod and four-times premiership star Shaun Burgoyne, who has won three flags with Hawthorn and one with Port Adelaide.
“Izak has that rare ability, like Betts, McLeod and Burgoyne, to create something out of nothing,” Sheehan says. “We see it week-in, week-out with him, these little moments in games, whether it’s the mark where he seemingly comes from nowhere to pull the ball in, the little cut back at breakneck speed or the clean ball handling and goal sense that breaks a game apart, where you sit back and say to yourself, ‘wow, that was pretty special’.
“His next challenge is consistency but once he finds that he will be unstoppable.”
Lukosius and Rankine grew up as junior football rivals but are now joined at the hip. They are rock stars at Henley High — a school that through its esteemed football program has produced current AFL stars Brodie Smith (Crows), Jared Polec (Power) and Scott Lycett (Eagles).
Former SANFL and VFL stars Steven Stretch, Neville Roberts, Andrew Payze and Peter Phillipou also are products of Henley.
Lukosius and Rankine this year led Henley to its first All Schools Open Knockout Cup win in 38 years. Henley became the first public school to win the title since Blackwood in 1998 as it thumped Prince Alfred College — which hadn’t lost a game in two years — in the grand final at Norwood Oval by 25 points.
Lukosius was co-captain of Henley and won the Colin Steinert Medal as best afield. Rankine also was among Henley’s best. As the pair came together for a photo shoot for SAWeekend, some schoolmates watched on in awe while passers-by in cars on Cudmore Tce beeped their horns as they caught a glimpse of the pair. But the likeable teenagers are having none of it.
Their feet are planted firmly on the ground.
“We’re no different to anyone else,” says Lukosius, who made national headlines when he kicked four goals in his league debut for the Eagles in last year’s preliminary final against Sturt.
“Our friends are really good, they keep us level-headed. They haven’t changed with how they’ve treated us throughout the journey, which has been great for our development. We have good friendship groups who have been really supportive the whole way through.”
Lukosius and Rankine first crossed paths as opponents on the football field while in primary school. Lukosius was at Grange school and played all of his local club football with the Henley Sharks. Rankine attended Torrensville primary and joined the Lockleys club before moving to Edwards-town, Rosewater and then Flinders Park.
“I moved around a bit and it was only when we got to high school that we got to know each other, in class and in the school footy program,” Rankine says.
But he was torn between sports. Apart from showing dynamism as a footballer, he also loves basketball. This year, just to break things up, he is a member of Henley’s basketball, not football, program.
And he can run like the wind.
From ages 10 to 15, Rankine — a point guard who played club basketball for Forestville — says he dreamt of moving to the United States to play college basketball. His long-term aim was to be drafted to the NBA, ideally to the team he supports, Oklahoma City Thunder.
Rankine’s passion for basketball meant he didn’t try out for any state junior football teams until his under-16 year. He starred at his first national carnival and made the SA under-18 team in the following two years, being named an All-Australian both times.
Remarkably, Rankine was AFL analyst Champion Data’s leading ranking points player in both under-18 carnivals. He was best afield in this year’s championship-decider against Vic Metro, kicking five goals. When Rankine was picked in the AFL Academy squad in 2016, his path was set, he says.
“Footy gave me that opportunity, a great opportunity, so I wasn’t going to knock it back,” Rankine says, adding that the skills he had learned in basketball had complemented his football.
In February this year, Rankine showcased his athletic prowess — and electrifying speed — by winning the prestigious 120m Camden Classic at his professional running debut while wearing borrowed spikes. He also won last year’s SANFL Grand Final sprint.
Lukosius, whose dad Rob played four league games for Woodville from 1990 and 26 for the merged Woodville-West Torrens club from 1991-96, also was a standout cricketer before shelving his fast bowling to focus on footy at age 16.
Lukosius led South Australia’s bowling attack at the 2016-17 Australian Under-17 Championships in Queensland and showcased his athleticism by taking one of the catches of the tournament at square leg.
“Cricket was a big passion of mine but football was probably always ahead of it in terms of my future because my dream has always been to get drafted into the AFL,” Lukosius says.
“Like Izak, once I got put into the national academy, I realised that it could be a reality and I probably switched from just loving the game to trying to be really professional, set some goals and try to make it.”
Lukosius’s state cricket coach Luke Williams says he “certainly had the talent to progress to higher honours” as a fast bowler.
Williams likened him to Redbacks paceman Joe Mennie, who played one Test for Australia against South Africa in 2016.
“Jack displayed a number of attributes of pace bowlers who do progress through the system — height, pace and natural athleticism,” he says.
While Lukosius has a relaxed personality and a squeaky clean image, Rankine has had some on-field disciplinary issues, which could see him drop a spot or two in the draft.
He has given away unnecessary free kicks at crucial times and copped a three-match suspension for striking Sturt’s Byron Sumner while playing for West in a pre-season game.
But Bamford won’t say a bad word about him, describing Rankine as “one of the most warm-hearted young men I’ve ever met”.
“There’s been a fair bit said about him and his character but I’ve got nothing but praise for him as a young man,” says the triple Port Adelaide SANFL premiership player and former Magpies league coach.
“He’s exceptionally caring and has empathy for everyone around him. He’s well respected and well liked by his teammates and coaching staff, and is just a really nice young man who is a bundle of energy and plays with great emotion.”
Henley High’s specialist sport football manager Ben Kane, a former Hawthorn, Glenelg and Sturt player, describes Rankine as being as competitive a sportsperson that he has seen. “Izak is just an absolute fierce competitor,” Kane says. “His desire to win is as strong as anyone I have ever seen.”
His competitive streak is illustrated in him eyeing a Brownlow Medal — football’s top individual honour — before he has even been drafted.
“I don’t want to sell myself short. I think every kid wants to win a Brownlow, play 200 games and become a (club) life member,” Rankine says. “Everyone should shoot for the stars and I think I can do it.”
Lukosius, whose goal is “just to be the best player I can be”, says Rankine wouldn’t be “the player he is without his competitive nature”.
Rankine — a passionate Crows fan who spent a week training with the club last December as part of the academy program — “pumps” himself up for matches by watching highlights of childhood football heroes Aaron and Alwyn Davey, who played for Melbourne and Essendon respectively, and Hawthorn’s Cyril Rioli.
“Before every game I play, I put their highlights on, whether it’s while I’m having Weet-Bix for breakfast, Dad (Ronald Sr) driving me to the game or I’m on a bus with the state side. I’ll put the YouTube highlights on and get pumped up. As soon as I wake up on game day, I try to get in the zone.”
Rankine’s mum, Kerry, from Point Pearce on the Yorke Peninsula, is related to the Davey brothers while former Power Rising Star winner and just-retired Docker Danyle Pearce is a cousin. His dad is a best and fairest winner at Adelaide Footy League club Rosewater.
Rankine is one of seven siblings — four boys and three girls — aged from 17 to 32. One of his brothers, Matthew, 26, plays league football for South Adelaide.
Sport has always played a major role in his family. Kerry was a netballer and Rankine and his siblings tried everything from tennis to rugby to ice hockey.
Rankine was a member of the inaugural Henley “Ice Factor” team. The Ice Factor program, established in 2005, is designed to teach life and leadership skills to teenagers who have difficulties focusing on school. This is done — in consultation with schools — in the fun environment of the ice hockey arena.
“It helped build my belief and leadership skills,” Rankine says, adding how close he is to his family and that he and his siblings were “always playing with some sort of ball in the front yard”.
Rankine embraces his Aboriginal heritage, describing it as “really important to me”. He is Adelaide-born but a member of the Ngarrindjeri community and Ronald Sr hails from the tiny South-East town of Raukkan.
Rankine has been to Raukkan several times to see family members and learn more about his heritage.
“Every time I run on to the field, I want to represent where I am from strongly and getting drafted would mean everything because it would allow me to help my family,” he says.
Rankine’s mentor is Betts, the star 295-game, 563-goal Crow whom he formed a strong relationship with when the pair met while he trained with Adelaide for a week in December as part of the academy program.
“Eddie invited me over to dinner after I trained with the Crows and we kicked off our relationship from there,” says Rankine, who lives with his parents at Mile End. “We stay in contact. We message each other here and there, just cruising, having good chats.
“He gives me advice and stuff and makes sure I stay on track. I think maybe coming from the same (indigenous) background is why we kind of have that connection there and look after each other.”
As for Betts, he describes Rankine as “an absolute superstar” who will “go in the top one or two in the draft”.
Henley’s Kane is adamant both teenagers have what it takes — physically and mentally — to be long-term AFL success stories.
“They should both, without doubt, be top-five draft picks,” he says. “If it was me, as a selector at an AFL club, I wouldn’t hesitate in taking either of them at No. 1. To be taken first would be a tough thing to manage but both of these boys have the personal traits to be able to handle that really well.
“They are the best talents that I have seen come through our school program and I was also lucky enough to be involved with them in the under-18 state carnival this year (as an assistant coach) and they are exceptional young men with really bright futures in front of them.
“Jack is your Riewoldt type and while you see his talent on the field, if you delve a bit deeper, you will find that he is the ultra professional for his age and an outstanding role model for teammates and fellow students.
“Izak is your X-factor player, your Betts, McLeod type of player who is able to stand up in big moments and really embraces that. He is an exceptional athlete who took out every event he entered in our sports carnival and whichever clubs get their hands on them should consider themselves very lucky.”
State coach Bamford is equally as impressed. “Jack is a special player in that he can play in all areas of the ground, which is going to be really appealing to some AFL clubs and coaches obviously,” he says.
“And Jack the person is really level-headed and well-rounded, he has his feet firmly planted on the ground, which is probably a reflection of his family environment and the way he’s been brought up.
“He doesn’t go around saying too much about himself, he just lets his actions do the talking. Izak is more of your gamebreaker, a player who can win a game for his team in a five or 10-minute spell.
“He’s got unbelievable lateral movement that I’ve never seen before from a player. His skills with the ball are incredible and once he gets into an AFL system and he gets taught about what he can do when he hasn’t got the football, he’ll take his game to another level.”
Both SA AFL clubs, Adelaide and Port, would love to get their hands on one of the pair. The Crows currently have three draft picks in the top 19 selections and have forward Mitch McGovern wanting to be traded. That will give Adelaide even more draft stock, and they are better placed than the Power to do it.
Lukosius, who trained with Port last summer, and Rankine would love to stay in South Australia. But they know their draft fate is not in their hands and will most likely not be decided until the selections are called out at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on Thursday, November 22.
This year’s introduction of live trading — where clubs can exchange picks during the draft — has further complicated which teams will get their hands on the pair.
“I’d love to stay in Adelaide with my family but I am more than happy to move away if it means playing AFL,” says Lukosius, who lives at Grange with his parents Rob and Heather, and 19-year-old sister, Abbey.
“Obviously the Crows have a bit of (draft) ammo to use but whatever happens, happens. I’ve always been a footy nut that has dreamt of playing AFL, so to get an opportunity with any AFL club would be pretty exciting. I’m happy to move anywhere to achieve my goals.”
Rankine has a similar philosophy. “Obviously to play for the team I barrack for, the Crows, would be great but I just wanted to get drafted and will be happy to go anywhere to play my role and help my new club,” he says.
Lukosius and Rankine are helping each other cope with the pressure and are enjoying each other’s success.
“It’s been a pretty full-on year, combining Year 12 with league footy and the nationals (under-18s) and we haven’t had too many easy games,” Lukosius says. “It has been pretty taxing and our bodies have got a bit sore but it’s been a good year, too.
“Izak’s great to play with because he’s just so competitive and wants to win.”
Rankine described playing with Lukosius as “awesome”.
“He’s someone that you really want to run out with because he’s a great player and a great teammate who you know has always got your back,” he says.
“Winning the national championship and the schools title with Jack is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I never asked to be stuck with Jack but I’m glad it’s turned out this way.”
There is a chance the pair could end up at the same AFL club, with Gold Coast likely to have selections two and three. Carlton, with pick one, has been linked to Victorian midfielder Sam Walsh, from Geelong Falcons.
From those early years running around sandy primary school footy fields in Adelaide’s west, the pair can now look forward to playing in front of fanatical crowds from Adelaide Oval and the SCG to the Gabba and MCG.
They may be together, or opponents again, but either way is good.
“Izak is a special player and it would be awesome to continue to play together,” says Lukosius. “He’s great to play with because he’s just so competitive and wants to win.
“We’ve been through a lot together, had some success along the way, and if it turns out that we do go to the same club it would be great.
“But if we end up in different teams I’m sure we’ll stay pretty good friends and get a lot of joy out of each other’s performances.”