Gold Coast Suns forward Izak Rankine is now seen as a guarantee to join the Adelaide Crows at season's end, with the South Australian side looking to make the lively forward "the highest paid player on its list" for 2023.
Rankine has been heavily linked to the West Lakes club in recent days after reports emerged suggesting an estimated $4 million, five-year offer had been tabled to the 22-year-old.
The Gold Coast small forward was seen to be nearing a new deal at Carrara, however the mammoth offer from Adelaide has seemingly swayed the tug-of-war in favour of the Crows.
So much so that Rankine has been touted as a "100 per cent" chance of landing with the Crows this off-season, with SEN's Michelangelo Rucci reporting other interested clubs in Essendon and Port Adelaide have been notified not to continue their respective pursuits.
Rucci revealed the deal tabled to Rankine will see the West Adelaide product earn $900,000 in 2023, more than any other Crow.
โ100 per cent (he will go to Adelaide)," Rucci toldย SEN SA.ย
"To the point whereby Essendon, which was the other interested party, has been told, โdonโt call anymoreโ.
โPort Adelaide has been told, โwe're not even meeting with youโ.
โAnd the figures that have been thrown at Essendon and Port Adelaide to make it known youโre wasting your time (are incredible).
โGold Coast has put $650,000 on the table, Adelaide will make Izak Rankine the highest paid player on its list next year at $900,000.
โThe next phase of all this is this you have a Gold Coast football club who are a bit like Sydney with Jordan Dawson last year, they thought they had himโฆ
โStuart Dew is not happy, so theyโre going to dig in.โ
Dew shed light on recent discussions with Rankine, with the Suns coach understanding of the "noise" and "opportunity" at hand.
"The conversations [are] ongoing," Dew toldย Fox Footyย on Saturday.
"Like a lot of players at this time of year there's conversations into the future.
"Izak's been outstanding, and so has the footy club in terms of our focus, and he's really keen to play well, not only today but going forward. We've kept that focus pretty narrow.
"We understand that there's, there's noise and there's opportunity."
Rankine, the third overall pick in the 2018 National Draft, has enjoyed a career-best season in 2022, booting 27 goals from 16 games in his fourth year at the Suns.
His value has only soared this season, likely requiring the Crows to hand up a first-round selection to please the Suns in trade discussions.
Adelaide currently hold Pick 4 for the 2022 National Draft with three matches remaining in the season.
Rankine and the Suns will head to Launceston to face Hawthorn for Saturday's clash at UTAS Stadium for their Round 21 encounter.
