Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew is confident his AFL team is going to come out ahead more times than not with boom youngster Izak Rankine.
The 20-year-old’s finishing touch went astray in the final term of Thursday’s five-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium.
Having kicked a confident set shot for a goal in the second quarter, Rankine kicked four behinds in the final term including a crucial set shot after a fine contested mark which would have levelled scores late.
While the result could have been different had Rankine found just one goal from his attempts, Dew was far from upset with the third-gamer’s efforts.
“The hard part’s getting the shots isn’t it?,” Dew said.
“I’m pretty sure when we sit back throughout his career he’s going to kick more of those than he’s missed.
“Plenty of players have missed a couple of goals, we just love the fact that he’s playing with energy and creates a few headaches.
“Five shots on goal in his third game so what’s he up to 15 now? I think we’ll come out in front with Izak.”
What hurt Dew and his team more was knowing they had let an opportunity slip by coming out on the wrong side of an arm-wrestle with the Bulldogs.
The Suns had 10 more inside 50s than their opponents and made nine more tackles but were behind at every change.
Dew was hopeful the defeat would be a lesson to his team.
“Good teams make you pay,” he said.
“At different times we did execute well but, in the conditions, we gave ourselves every opportunity to win the game.”