Izak Rankine’s rise from talented forward to Adelaide midfield weapon

Izak Rankine arrived at Adelaide as a mercurial forward. Now, he’s Matthew Nicks’ greatest midfield weapon. Go inside his transformation from attacking livewire to on-ball threat.

• Jordan Dawson: Overcoming ‘impostor syndrome’

Adelaide star Izak Rankine returns to the Glitter Strip to take on his former club Gold Coast with a growing reputation as one of the AFL’s most dangerous midfielders.

Those who were with him at the Suns — and watched him up close in Queensland — saw the glimpses of his midfield potential in the sunshine state.

But it has been the work of Rankine, and the Crows, to increase his fitness that has led to his evolution from electrifying small forward to gun midfielder.

And they believe Rankine has provided the template for the player the Suns drafted with the pick they received for Rankine, Bailey Humphrey, to kickstart his own evolution.

Unbeaten after three matches to start the season for the first time since 2017, the Crows travel to People First Stadium for a mouth-watering clash on Saturday which will pit the competition’s two best offensive teams against each other.

Fuelling the Crows’ fast start to the season has been their turbocharged midfield, with Rankine now almost a full-time onballer and helping take Matthew Nicks’ engine room to the next level.

“I think it’s the most consistent and most mature (I’ve played),” he said.

“I don’t have to do everything in a sense to try and spark (the team). There’s been a lot of players stepping up and having their moments.”

There is no doubt that Rankine has started the season strongly.

Against St Kilda in Round 1 he had 28 disposals and kicked two goals, then against North Melbourne he had 30 disposals.

Even against Essendon — when he was subbed out of the game early while being managed — he still had 15 disposals and two goals.

One of those will go close to winning the goal of the year award.

The impact Rankine is having on games comes as no surprise to former Gold Coast teammate — and two-time Richmond premiership player — Brandon Ellis.

“I definitely did know that he had this in him, he was just sort of hounded by injuries when I first got to the Suns,” Ellis, who retired at the end of last season, said.

“But I could see on the track that he just had this special talent, his forward craft was some of the best I had ever seen.

Roles have changed.

Contested possessions per game:

14.0 - Izak Rankine
7.3 - Jason Horne-Francis#SuperCoach

— Fantasy Freako (@FantasyFreako) March 30, 2025

“He didn’t really pinch hit in the midfield too much when I was there because our midfield was stacked and he was sort of trying to adapt to AFL level as a forward.

“But now he is five or six years in the system and with some really good pre-seasons under his belt, he has his body in great condition it is no surprise.

“He had a great year last year before he got injured but he has sort of just taken off from where he finished last year.

“It is awesome to see because he works so hard on his game and his craft and he is such a loveable character.”

A ridiculous finish from a star Crow 🤯

Izak Rankine is the round two @NAB Goal of the Year nominee. pic.twitter.com/ZYzKSXm0OP

— AFL (@AFL) March 27, 2025

So the wait was well worth it 😳

The Suns didn't take the win last night, but they finally let loose Izak Rankine, who kicked three dazzling goals in his much anticipated debut. pic.twitter.com/PKaHp3wj0g

— AFL (@AFL) July 12, 2020

But while there were glimpses of what Rankine could do around the ball, he was used more as a small forward at the Suns.

“His craft was playing as a small forward and I remember my first game I played with him in 2020 and we played against Melbourne at the Giants’ Stadium,” Ellis said.

“And his first touch he just walked through two people, stepped inside and snapped a goal over his shoulder and I just thought ‘wow, what he is doing in training he is doing in his first game’.”

Izak Rankine is showing his talents as a midfielder.

Rankine played almost exclusively as a forward with the Suns.

Three-time premiership winner Alastair Lynch remembers Rankine’s debut for the Suns in Round 6 of the 2020 season — in which he finished with 3.3 and 12 disposals — well.

“He had an elite talent to hit the scoreboard,” Lynch, who got a first-hand look at Rankine playing for the Suns in his role covering every Queensland AFL game for Fox Footy, said.

“He kicked three in his first game and you just went ‘geez this is an elite player’ and you always felt there was more than a small forward (to him).

“But I suppose it has taken time, maybe a different environment.

“His ability to hit the scoreboard and being a player that didn’t need a heap of possessions to hurt you, when he got the ball he was certainly going to do some damage.”

For most of the time since he was drafted by the Suns with the third pick in the 2018 ‘Super Draft’, Rankine seemed comfortable on the Gold Coast.

But a game against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in 2022 sowed the seeds for a move back to South Australia to be closer to family.

At the end of that year he sought a move to the Crows.

“Look it hurt and it sucked that he left but at the end of the day you have to do what is best for you. Clubs do what is best for them and I guess individuals have to do what is best for them as well,” Ellis said.

“It has worked out really well for him so far, so I am very happy for him and I wish him all the best.”

But the move to the Crows was also motivated by the opportunity for Rankine to spend more time playing in midfield.

To do this though, Rankine would need to build his tank.

“You just weren’t sure if he could actually have that capability to go and spend big time in the midfield,” Lynch said.

“He certainly had the talent and the explosive speed to do it.”

It may have looked like a challenge to some, but Crows high performance manager Darren Burgess was told that if he could unlock Rankine’s running capacity he could be something really special.

“That would be such an exciting project for your conditioning team to grab a talent like Izak and build the capabilities,” Lynch said.

“Not only in terms of being resilient as far of your health and wellbeing but to also spend big minutes in the midfield would be a great project and an exciting project and so far it is looking very good.”

BAILEY HUMPHREY 🎯 🔥#AFLBluesSunspic.twitter.com/M9648VZUz3

— outbreezy (@outbreezyWC) May 25, 2024

BAILEY HUMPHREY, EVERYONE 👏#AFLSunsDogs | #AFLDeadlypic.twitter.com/1YuvRZxVPG

— AFL (@AFL) May 27, 2023

So what about the player that the Suns received for Rankine?

To snare Rankine the Crows gave up the fifth pick of the 2022 draft, as well as a future third and fourth round selections — getting back No. 46 and a future fourth tied to Fremantle.

The Suns used the headline pick on Gippsland Power product Humphrey at No. 6 — because of an early bid on Brisbane father-son prospect Will Ashcroft.

The Crows used those picks from the Suns, trading the Dockers 2023 fourth to Brisbane for No. 56, to help them get the required points to match a bid from Sydney for father-son prospect Max Michlanney.

The other picks the Crows gave Gold Coast were used to match bids on academy products Jed Walter, Ethan Read, Jake Rogers and Will Graham a year later.

But, in essense the Suns lost Rankine and gained Humphrey.

Ellis laughed when told that was basically the deal after raising Humphrey as a replacement for Rankine.

Humphrey puts a tackle on Christian Petracca last weekend.

Humphrey has been spending more time in midfield this year.

“I think we might have found a replacement but Izak is a very special talent,” he said.

“There you go, it is a little bit of symmetry.”

After coming into the team as a small forward for the past two years, Humphrey has been given more time around the ball this year and is having a breakout season.

After averaging 12.4 and 10.4 disposals in 2023 and 2024 his 2025 average has rocketed up to 21.5.

In his first two seasons at the Suns, Rankine averaged 11.5 and 11.8 disposals.

“They are probably similar stories,” Lynch said.

“Bailey has had to build his capabilities and probably still is to spend time in the midfield.

“Bailey has spent the last couple of years sort of building his capabilities and spending time forward but this year his midfield minutes have jumped right up.

“I think Izak has shown the way for someone like Bailey.

“With a lot of hard work you will get more minutes in the midfield and become a more damaging player.

“So Bailey can learn a lot and he probably has from someone like Rankine how a lot of hard work is required to get in the midfield for a long time.”

Given Rankine is in such damaging form, how will the Suns seek to not have their former charge hurt them too much on Saturday?

“Dimma (Suns coach Damien Hardwick) he doesn’t really like tagging players, he just loves team defence so he will probably try and nullify him as much as he can at stoppage and then when he goes forward I reckon Bodhi Uwland will get the job on him,” Ellis said.

“I’m sure Dimma will have a plan, I don’t think it will be a tag or anything, more team defence and be aware of him when he is at stoppage because he is very fast, very light on his feet and he can cause damage.”

Lynch said he was on the lookout for how the Suns handled Rankine and whether Nicks would uses captain Jordan Dawson to try and quell the red-hot Matt Rowell.

“I reckon it will be an incredible game, it is still early in the season but you feel like the winner of this is legitimate as far as playing finals at the first step at the very least,” Lynch said.

Originally published as Izak Rankine’s rise from talented forward to Adelaide midfield weapon