AFL 2023: Eddie Betts has a message for Izak Rankine as he prepares for his first season at the Crows

Retired Adelaide star Eddie Betts has thrown some advice Izak Rankine’s way based on his experience as a Crow. Basically, the former Sun better perform, and fast.

Izak Rankine of the Crows. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Eddie Betts has a couple of messages for Izak Rankine as he prepares to step into his shoes at the Crows.

One is delivered with the flair that Betts showed across his 350-game career for both Adelaide and Carlton, making him one of the most loved players in the AFL.

“The stuff he can do is pretty special, but the thing I would say to Izak is that the pockets at Adelaide Oval belong to me,” Betts says at the Fox Footy season launch.

“You can rent them but they are still mine.”

The other isn’t quite a warning, but it isn’t that far off.

“Adelaide can, especially the media and supporters, they can bring you in and chew you out right away,” he says.

“So you have to perform when you come in on big money. I felt the pressure when I first came across (from Carlton to Adelaide) and I wasn’t on the amount Izak is on.

“So the negative feedback from media and fans that come your way, you have to get out on the front foot and prove your point, prove you can play.”

Betts jokes that Izak Rankine can rent the Adelaide Oval pockets off him. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Rankine in action against the Dockers in the practice match. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Four years after he was selected by the Gold Coast with the third pick of the 2018 Draft – so good were Rankine’s under-17 and under-18 years that he was spoken about as a potential No. 1 pick for long periods – the 22-year-old returned to South Australia after requesting a trade to the Crows.

The reaction to Rankine’s trade request, and then move back to Adelaide for a deal featuring the Crows’ first round selection in last year’s draft, is centred around the value of the three-year contract the excitement machine has signed with the club he grew up supporting.

Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane used the phrase “money talks” in a parting clip at Rankine when the now star Crow requested a move from the Suns.

It was debated at length as to whether Rankine, who has played 48 games for the Suns and kicked 57 goals, was worth the deal up to the high $800,000s per season.

Betts, who now does work for Fox Footy in his retirement, wants to go into bat for Rankine.

“There has been a lot of questions in the media around whether it is too much money for a small forward. As a small forward myself I’m like hang on, you have midfielders and rucks on big money, tall forwards who are on big money,” he says.

“Where is the negative feedback around those guys? As soon as a small forward gets money there is negative feedback.

“So I’m like no we deserve our money, we deserve to be paid well because small forward is the hardest position to play.”

Rankine after his move to the Crows was confirmed. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

Rankine comes to the Crows off the back of a breakout season at the Suns, in which he started to emerge as one of the best small forwards in the competition after kicking 29 goals in 2022.

He should immediately provide the Crows with a potential match-winning option in what is now looking like a potent forward line.

“That is where you want your best players playing and we have been talking about continuing to add speed and skill to our side and Izak Rankine does both of those,” Crows board member Mark Ricciuto says.

“I think he will be a great addition.”

But former Crow Josh Jenkins, who was part of the dangerous forward line that reached the 2017 grand final, and worked with Rankine in the SA Under-18s program, says Adelaide fans can’t expect him to be a matchwinner in every game.

“There are going to be as many lean days as matchwinning days,” he says.

“I know what it is like in Adelaide, the expectations on him will be gigantic.

“The hype train has already left the station so it will be hard for him to match that but hopefully Adelaide fans can ride it with him and he can help them rise up the ladder.”

So far the early signs from Rankine have been extremely promising.

How many goals will Rankine kick in 2023? Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

He kicked five goals in the Crows internal trial, then backed it up against Fremantle in match simulation with multiple majors.

And even though he was extremely quiet in the first half in the practice match against West Coast, he still finished with six tackles and a goal.

Before that, Rankine’s best return from tackles in a game was five.

“He is going to put a lot of pressure on the opposition with his inferred pressure and the concern that he puts on defenders and in their mind because he is so quick and dangerous,” Jenkins says.

At West Lakes, the real excitement is around Rankine’s running capability, and what it could be.

Adelaide star and former captain Rory Sloane says he couldn’t have been more impressed with Rankine’s pre-season so far.

“What he has brought from day dot, he has been diligent, worked really hard and that’s what our guys have loved,” he says.

Rankine’s running capacity has the Crows excited Picture: Tom Huntley

Crows high performance manager Darren Burgess was told that if he could unlock Rankine’s running capability then he could be something special.

It is still a work in progress, but Burgess is excited about the potential blend of speed and endurance Rankine could show.

Rankine’s captain at West Adelaide when he debuted at SANFL level at just 16, Tom Keough, says you could see that even back then.

“I’m sure he will admit that early days he preferred the skills and kicking the footys around more than he did the fitness and the gym work but he really put it together in his under 18 year and what we are seeing now is a stronger and more professional kid,” he says.

“With that last year we always knew he was that explosive and electric player who could do those high bursts, screamers and sprints but his ability to do that over a full game surprised us.

“I think he can play in an AFL midfield and really light it up.

“That has been his development and I think he can bring the game he has got to a midfield and with an increased workrate I think he can be almost unstoppable in there.”

Part of what fuelled Rankine’s move back to Adelaide was the opportunity to spend more time playing in the midfield.

Expect either Rankine or young gun Josh Rachele to have bursts around the ball as the Crows look to inject their speed and skill into their midfield.

“He or Rachele, probably not both, but one of them needs to be around the ball at all times,” Jenkins says.

“We played against Adelaide a couple of years ago where they had great effectiveness by putting one of their small forwards up around the ball to be an extra number and cause a bit of chaos.

“If that person is a Rankine or a Rachele that is going to give them great service and allow them to be a lot more potent.

“I know that is an area they are keen to get more potency and damage from.”

Another part was a desire to be closer to family, with a key moment in Rankine’s move coming in the moments after the Suns narrowly lost to Port Adelaide in Round 15 at Adelaide Oval.

He was surrounded by relatives and the idea of returning to South Australia became irresistible.

Former Sun Jarrod Harbrow presents Rankine with his Gold Coast jumper at the 2018 draft. Picture: James Ross

Rankine celebrating a goal against Port Adelaide last year. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos

Family is important to Rankine, who often spoke to the Suns about wanting to use his profile as an AFL footballer to make a difference in the Indigenous community.

But, for a while, there was a view among those in Rankine’s camp that it was good for him to be away from South Australia.

However, while there was concern, those advising Rankine now feel he is mature enough to return to Adelaide.

Jenkins says Rankine shouldn’t be judged for wanting to be closer to family.

“I think we genuinely overlook how attractive it might be for someone to live in your home town, be around your friends, be around your family, being able to go to the places you went to as a young person and still being able to play AFL footy,” he says.

“It would have been nice to see him stick with Gold Coast and help them climb the ladder but I’ll never judge someone for deciding to move clubs especially to go home.”

And as for how he will adjust with the greater attention in the Adelaide fishbowl after years away from the footy limelight on the Gold Coast, there is confidence that Rankine will handle it.

“I’m going to say in the same way that he has done so for the last few years and take it in his stride,” Keough says.

“Adelaide is a beautiful footy bubble but I think he will be fine with it.

“He is a duck to water with this type of stuff. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and he is an amazing footballer but at the same time I think he listens to the people around him.

“How he deals with pressure, he just goes out there and plays. It’s awesome and I wish I had some of it myself.” 

Originally published as AFL 2023: Eddie Betts has a message for Izak Rankine as he prepares for his first season at the Crows