![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
And the highly-talented Rankine must be given every chance to help the Crows flip their fortunes according to King, who\u2019s been left frustrated by coach Matthew Nicks\u2019 use of Rankine so far this season.<\/p>\n
Rankine had a career-best 2025 campaign booting 31 goals and averaging 20.6 disposals and 4.4 clearances from 22 matches to emerge as one of the AFL\u2019s most damaging midfielder-forwards.<\/p>\n
Izak Rankine of the Crows. Picture: Morgan Hancock\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
But Rankine so far this season hasn\u2019t been unleashed in the midfield as often, attending just 16 of the Crows\u2019 79 centre ball-ups to date. He was given zero on-ball time against Geelong in Round 3, while he spent just 40 per cent and 28 per cent of game time in the middle against the Bulldogs (Round 2) and Dockers (Round 4) respectively.<\/p>\n
And despite spending more game time closer to goal, Rankine has still only managed three goals from three games. He\u2019s also down on average in disposals (12 \u2013 down from 21 last year), contested possessions (5.0 \u2013 down from 11.3) and score involvements (3.7 \u2013 down from 6.6).<\/p>\n
Rankine missed Round 1 due to suspension, but his pre-season was also hampered by a late hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack Preview, King said he\u2019d been left \u201creally bemused\u201d with how Nicks is using Rankine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going \u2026 If the player has got an issue, don\u2019t play him. But if he\u2019s right to go, you\u2019ve got to release the brakes,\u201d King told Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack Preview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand the use of him at the moment of pretty much as a forward. I don\u2019t understand him not going in at centre bounces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel like they\u2019ve prioritised (Josh) Rachele over Rankine \u2013 and Rachele\u2019s going OK, but he\u2019s not Izak Rankine. Izak has the capability of being the best player in the competition<\/p>\n
‘We were smashed in the contest!’ | 09:55<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to put him where the footy is \u2026 They are a vanilla midfield without this guy in there. He\u2019s their point of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
King pointed to how the Bulldogs, Demons and Dockers had prioritised more on-ball exposure for Ed Richards, Kysaiah Pickett and Shai Bolton respectively this year \u2013 moves that were paying dividends for all three clubs to date.<\/p>\n
But King said Rankine had just as much high-end talent and match-winning potential as the star rival trio.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to set him up to succeed, not orchestrate his demise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not serving them well, the way they\u2019re handling him. So you make a decision to pick him and play him then support him.\u201d<\/p>\n
King warned if the Crows couldn\u2019t help Rankine recapture his best midfield form, \u201cit\u2019ll be alarm bells everywhere at Adelaide \u2013 and not just the wins and losses\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll come for the coach quickly. I just feel like it\u2019s a city prepared to turn quick on Matty Nicks if he doesn\u2019t get this team rolling,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep, fantastic last year and run aground late \u2013 maybe because of Izak and maybe there\u2019s something there, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Izak Rankine. Picture: Brett HartwigSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just looking at this thinking: \u2018How is this happening when you\u2019re not picking this guy in a position that can dominate a game of football?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said it was time for the Crows to release the shackles off Rankine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t understand it, I\u2019m not sure why,\u201d Montagna told Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack Preview.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there maybe has to be something wrong with him, but even if there is something wrong with him, there\u2019s no harm in starting in a centre bounce, it\u2019s no different to starting at half-forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet him in there and find out what his ceiling is this year and why he\u2019s not reaching the levels he has in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBemused\u201d dual premiership Kangaroo David King believes if star player Izak Rankine isn\u2019t reinjected into the Crows\u2019 midfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[9126,638,9199,64,63,689,55,639,3423,147189,3234,1818,10124,12099,2105,4517,70801,16712,54903,289675,677,1820,85,289674,88722,289673,289672],"class_list":{"0":"post-593418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-adelaide-crows","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-alarm-bells","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-football-league","15":"tag-australianfootballleague","16":"tag-ben-waterworth","17":"tag-centre-ball-ups","18":"tag-centre-bounces","19":"tag-david-king","20":"tag-fremantle-dockers","21":"tag-game-time","22":"tag-getty-images-inc","23":"tag-hamstring-injury","24":"tag-kysaiah-pickett","25":"tag-matthew-nicks","26":"tag-matty-nicks","27":"tag-midfield-form","28":"tag-oceania","29":"tag-score-involvements","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-star-rival-trio","32":"tag-straight-sets-finals-exit","33":"tag-vanilla-midfield","34":"tag-zero-on-ball-time"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}