In the wake of an off-the-ball hit on Brisbane player Brandon Starcevich, star Crow Izak Rankine’s actions have been torched by one of his biggest fans as he awaits an inevitable suspension.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, a “disappointed” two-time premiership Kangaroo David King was quick to come down on Rankine’s actions that led to Starcevich being subbed out at quarter time on Sunday evening.
The hit in question caught the defender completely off-guard, with their slight head clash enough to result in Starcevich failing his HIA (Head Injury Assessment) test.
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Rankine in MRO strife after heavy hit? | 00:38
Now purely just a matter of how many weeks, the once-All-Australian prospect will now certainly be on the sidelines for too long to receive a maiden jacket – with King, one of his biggest fans, as displeased as anyone.
“This is crap from Izak Rankine, and he’s picked off a defenceless player when he knows he’s completely vulnerable, sets himself and takes him out,” King begun by saying on Sunday night.
“He doesn’t mean to get him in the head, but he’s going to hurt him, there’s no other way to look at this – he knows he’s not looking, he cites him and just flushes him.
“Everyone’s going to say ‘Nah nah, this is just a normal act, a normal bump and we’ll carry on our way back to our position’ – but not at that force, not for me.
“The Izak Rankine (bump) versus the Luke Parker one is a good discussion – you talk about intent with these sorts of actions. Luke Parker didn’t mean to cause the damage that he went to cause … this one here, the first point of call here is to hurt.”
While Rankine’s intention wasn’t to hit his opponent high, the forceful bump will be scowled at by the AFL, who has been implored to prevent any unnecessary acts that result in high contact.
“Why else are you doing it? Why else are you going with that force?” King continued.
“This is a guy who understands the nuances of the game better than anyone – I can put him in a stoppage with 20 blokes around him, and he can navigate his way through – and you’re telling me he doesn’t know what he’s doing here? One-versus-one, in 30 metres of space when play isn’t even in motion?
“I’m really disappointed in this action, and I think the AFL should, and will come down hard on this from Izak.”
Parker six-week suspension in the VFL earlier this year may be glanced at as a reference point for how long Rankine is rubbed out for, with any length of punishment possible at this stage.
Asked by St Kilda great Leigh Montagna on how long the star could be sitting on the sidelines for, King rightly struggled to put a finger on a number.
“You can never work out the table to be fair. If you’re going on intent, then I think it’s in the same area (as Parker’s six weeks), but if you’re just going on the outcome – which is where we’ve gone to (in the past) – the outcome in the Parker case was severe, and the young man spent a fair bit of time in hospital.
“This is not that, but it’s pretty bad.
“This is not on – we’ve been trying to take these things out of the game for ages, and that’s just crap.”
There is every chance that Rankine misses the majority of Adelaide’s seven remaining games this season, with finals nigh on impossible after their loss this evening to Brisbane.
The 24-year-old has so far kicked 26 goals from his 13 games so far in 2024.