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Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane has expressed his disappointment at star small forward Izak Rankine’s looming return home to South Australia.
Rankine has requested a trade to Adelaide, where it has been reported he will receive a five-year contract worth upwards of $4 million.
But speaking on 3AW’s Sportsday, Cochrane didn’t cut Rankine any slack for the monster payday.
“Incredibly disappointing because there’s so many people around our club that gave Izak an awful lot of time,” Cochrane said of Rankine’s impending departure.
“I recall his first year, when they discovered he had a bit of an arthritic hip issue, pelvic area issue, and the time and trouble we went to medically to try and get to the bottom of that and get him sorted for life – not just for footy – and he didn’t play in that first year. It goes right back to those days.
“Stuey Dew has put in a phenomenal amount of time with this kid, he’s been like a second dad to him. He’s helped him in so many ways, to get around and get involved, and he’s also helped him enormously with his football.
“There’s a lot of very disappointed people up here and I know a lot of his fellow playing mates all feel they were all in this together, and they felt he was in this with them and would go forward with them.
“Money talks, huh? Someone else with a big wallet comes along, it makes it pretty hard.”
Cochrane is known for his controversial and often outlandish statements regarding departing Suns, having blasted former player Jaeger O’Meara several years after leaving the Gold Coast to head to Hawthorn.
As one of a number of stars to leave the club in a player exodus during the mid-2010s, Cochrane told Damian Barrett’s In the Game podcast in 2019 it was O’Meara’s move that hurt the most.
“Jaeger is one that was personally disappointing because he looked me in the eye and said he was staying, so I learnt something in life out of that,” he said.
Suns captain Touk Miller joined Cochrane in expressing his disappointment in Rankine’s departure, saying the club’s role in his development as a player is now wasted and revealing the Suns’ leadership group had pleaded with him to stay.
“We sat him down, we had a chat to him, our leadership group,” Miller told Fox Footy during Wednesday night’s AFL Awards.
“We literally just gave him our honest opinion and how we felt and what we felt with where his spot was in our club and how important he was to us succeeding and how much of a loss it is if he doesn’t play for us.
“I’ll be honest, it is disappointing. We felt like Izak, we put a lot of time into him.
“For the player that he is and going to become, I feel like we had a massive hand in that and trying to create that and surround him with a culture where he can thrive and relish.
“He’s really just started to give us the goods towards the end there.”
Izak Rankine of the Suns celebrates kicking a goal. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Alastair Clarkson’s arrival as North Melbourne coach has already seen massive changes across the club.
Kangaroos football boss Dan McPherson and assistant coaches Anthony Rocca and Heath Younie have been dismissed just days after the four-time premiership coach’s appointment, with Clarkson set to have a major say in determining club personnel moving forward.
McPherson had only been in the role for a single season.
The former Hawthorn boss has already hired former lieutenant at the Hawks, Todd Viney, as his general manager of football, with the club in full support of the signing
“Todd is a widely respected figure of the game with great football nous, and he will be a huge asset to our club,” North Melbourne CEO Ben Amarfio said in a statement.
“Todd’s vast experience in a range of football roles has given him an understanding of all aspects of the game. We look forward to him leading our football program and working alongside Alastair.”
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