Gold Coast keen to finish strongly despite failure to qualify for finals

Amid ongoing speculation Izak Rankine will leave the club, the Suns are desperate for a strong performance against AFL leaders Geelong.

The Suns are desperate to keep Izak Rankine. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

A Gold Coast Suns side out of AFL finals contention and battling to retain the services of star forward Izak Rankine faces a test of “maturity” against competition leaders Geelong at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

The Suns’ seven-point weekend loss to Hawthorn in Launceston ended the 11th-placed Gold Coast’s hopes of playing finals football for the first time in the club’s history.

And the pain of missing the top eight would be amplified if 22-year-old Rankine goes home to South Australia at the end of the season to join the Adelaide Crows on a deal reportedly worth $4 million over five years.

Suns star Izak Rankine seems set for a move to Adelaide. Picture: Russell Freeman / AFL Photos via Getty Images

“We’re at the point where all of us – myself, Izak, the team, the players – are looking forward to Geelong,” Suns coach Stuart Dew said on Wednesday.

“We’ve put a lot of work into this year to finish the year strong.

“We want to chase our best year as a footy club. We were chasing finals, they’re done now, so it’s really important that we all finish (strongly).

“We can deal with that (Rankine matter) at the end of the year. We’re playing the best team in the competition – we can’t take our eyes off that.

“It was really disappointing on the weekend (against Hawthorn) and the fact that mathematically we’re not alive anymore, even that’s a test for us, (with) our maturity, and to make sure we try to deliver our brand as best as we can.

“We’ve kept a narrow focus all year about consistency, but that’s going to be tested on the weekend.”

Dew was adamant Rankine would not be distracted from performing well on Saturday amid speculation he is set to join the Crows.

“Izak’s intention is to play good footy this week against Geelong. He’s been really firm with that and we’re supporting him through it,” the Suns coach said.

“He’s a young lad who’s clearly got a lot of attention on him, so our job is to support him and get him to play his best footy.

“Last week when it was all getting talked about a fair bit, did that affect him a little bit? Maybe, but part of his role is to pick himself up and get going, and part of our role is to help him with that.
“We’ve got the mix right and we’re ready to go.

“We’ve got high expectations and we want to meet those this week. We’re up against the best and we’re looking forward to it.”