Trade news 2022: Follow all Adelaide’s moves in the AFL exchange period

It’s been a long time coming, but Izak Rankine is finally with the Adelaide Crows. So why did the superstar settle on just three years instead of a much bigger deal?

Izak Rankine of the Suns.

A desire to “back himself in” for his next deal led to Izak Rankine signing a three-year contract with Adelaide, Crows list manager Justin Reid says.

Eleven weeks after the 22-year-old requested to return home to South Australia and be traded to the Crows, Rankine officially joined the club he supported as a child after Adelaide and Gold Coast agreed a deal five days into the trade period.

On top of getting Rankine the Crows also received pick 46 and a 2023 fourth-round selection, which is tied to Fremantle, while giving the Suns pick five, a future third and a 2023 fourth-rounder.

Surprisingly when the deal was announced it was revealed that Rankine had signed a three-year deal, as opposed to the five-year one expected.

But Reid said this was because Rankine was backing himself to make his next contract a big one.

“Izak is the type of person who will back himself in,” he told Trade Radio.

Izak Rankine could eventually end up in the Crows midfield.

“He is nearly a 50-game player and I think his management and him see some upside now that he has laid some foundations.

“We are happy to work through that with Izak, we think he is a long term player for us and we are happy to bring him in for the group.”

The No. 3 pick of the 2018 ‘Super Draft’ Rankine is set to add class and speed to the rebuilding Crows team as a damaging small forward.

Reid said Rankine could eventually go through the midfield for the Crows.

It was expected for a while that Rankine would remain with the Suns.

But a game against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval earlier this year, in which he kicked three goals, sowed the seeds for a move back home.

“When he had his family in the change rooms following the game that really opened his mind,” Reid said.

Gold Coast’s general manager of player talent and strategy Craig Cameron said the Suns were pleased with their haul from the trade.

Izak Rankine has signed a three-year deal with the Adelaide Crows.

“We had invested a lot of time and resources into Izak in his four years at the club, so when he requested a trade we had to ensure we were satisfied and compensated appropriately for our investment,” Cameron said.

“To receive a top-five draft selection was important to us, and Adelaide’s future picks will help us execute our strategy and strengthen our draft collateral for next year.”

Receiving a pick in the 40s helps the Crows accumulate draft points so they can match bids on father-son prospect Max Michalanney, a Norwood premiership defender.

Michalanney is tied to Adelaide due to his dad Jim’s 211-game career with the Redlegs.

The Crows now have picks 23 and 46 in this year’s draft.

The Suns have been seeking selections for next year, when they have access to highly-touted academy prospect Jed Walter.

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He’s Crow-ing home: Rankine trade finally done

Izak Rankine is coming home.

Adelaide has secured the exciting forward in a deal centred around the Crows’ pick five in this year’s AFL draft after negotiations with Gold Coast dragged into the trade period’s second week.

Future third- and fourth-round picks are also headed to the Suns, who sent Rankine, pick 46 and a future fourth-round selection to Adelaide.

After News Corp revealed the deal had been agreed on, the trade was made official on Monday afternoon.

The Crows have limited list spots but the pick in this year’s draft will likely go towards matching a bid on father-son prospect Max Michalanney.

Izak Rankine will play for the Crows next season and beyond. Picture: Getty Images

Adelaide list manager Justin Reid said Rankine would add class and speed to the rebuilding Crows team.

“We are thrilled to have Izak join our club and are excited about what he will bring to our team,” Reid said.

“Izak is a highly talented footballer with great foot speed, is dangerous around goal and has tremendous game sense.

“We are very pleased that he wants to be part of what we are building at the club.”

News Corp revealed in early August that Adelaide’s hope to bring Rankine back to South Australia was suddenly a reality and he requested a trade the week after the Suns’ season ended.

The 22-year-old was the No. 3 pick in the loaded 2018 draft, with the likes of Sam Walsh, the King twins – Max and Ben – Bailey Smith and Connor Rozee also taken in the top 10 that year.

Rankine is fresh from his best season at AFL level, kicking 29 goals from 18 games, as well as averaging 13 disposals, one goal assist and a league-best 2.9 groundball-gets inside 50.

The Crows are set to not only use him as a forward but also plan to unleash him in the midfield as well.

The Suns were disappointed to lose Rankine and flew his father to the Gold Coast late in the season in a last-gasp bid to change his mind.

It’s believed his round 15 game against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, when he was surrounded by family afterwards in the change rooms, was a turning point in him wanting to go home.

Once Rankine’s mind was made up, Gold Coast turned its attention to maximising the return for him, with Adelaide’s top pick instantly targeted.

Jed Walter will be one of the first players taken in the 2023 AFL draft but is tied to Gold Coast as an Academy prospect. Picture: Getty Images

The Suns are also chasing more picks in next year’s draft to help them match bids for Academy prospects Jed Walter and Ethan Read, so that became an integral part of the Rankine deal.

Jed Walter was named in this year’s under-18 All-Australian team as a bottom-ager and is considered the second-best key forward in the 2023 draft behind potential No. 1 Harley Reid.

Read is a 200cm ruckman who could eventually succeed Jarrod Witts as Gold Coast’s leading big man.

Gold Coast received the Giants’ future second-round pick in a deal with Brisbane that saw Tom Berry become a Sun and also scored a future fourth-round selection from Fremantle for Josh Corbett.

Geelong will likely hand over a 2023 third-round pick in the salary dump trade with Gold Coast for Jack Bowes and the No. 7 selection in this year’s draft.