3 minute read
Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew is confident a resolution is close between the AFL club and Izak Rankine over a new deal to keep the forward at the Suns.
It's only a month until the end of the AFL home-and-away season but Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew remains confident off-contract forward Izak Rankine will re-sign with the Suns.
Pick three in the 2018 draft, Rankine is having a career-best season and has kicked 24 goals with 16 assists in 15 appearances.
Despite Dew saying in June that Rankine wasn't going anywhere, the 22-year-old has yet to ink a new deal.
Essendon have reportedly tabled an offer for Rankine while the South Australian product is almost certain to be on the radar of the two Adelaide clubs if he's keen for a return to his home state.
Having already seen off interstate interest to secure forward Ben King and utility Jack Lukosius to new deals, Dew says he won't get too concerned while talks between Rankine and the club are ongoing.
"There's always a process," Dew said.
"Things happen at different rates and different speeds.
"A number of ones we've done have actually taken longer. So no, as long as those conversations are still happening that's where the confidence comes from.
"It's when it goes quiet (you worry) and it's certainly not like that.
"The dialogue's still there."
Dew's primary concern is making sure his team finish the club's 2022 campaign on a strong note.
Hopes of a maiden finals berth are now highly unlikely after back-to-back losses to Essendon and Brisbane but a win over West Coast on Sunday would keep the Suns in the hunt for statistically their best campaign in the club's history.
The 10 wins of 2014 remain the best return by the Suns since they entered the AFL in 2011, with this year's crop standing at eight wins with four matches to play.
"There's more drive within the group. There's, I guess, a hunger to finish the year really well but also we're just set up differently," Dew said.
"We've got bigger bodies, the maturity's there.
"We've got greater depth, obviously, because we've had some injuries, like all teams, but guys have been able to come in and cover.
"So we're looking forward to the next month or so."
