West Coast are reportedly prepared to take Gold Coast Suns forward Izak Rankine in the Pre-Season Draft if he is not snatched up by the Crows or the Suns.
It's believed the Suns are offering Rankine around $650,000 per season to remain at the club, in comparison to a reported $800,000 per season offer from the Crows, which would also see him return home to South Australia.
Earlier this week Suns coach Stuart Dew admitted that Rankine, 22, had a big decision to make on his future.
But if the Crows and Suns cannot reach an agreement over the potential trade, the Eagles are waiting to swoop and select Rankine in the pre-season draft, per SEN's Michelangelo Rucci.
"The trade has to be done, Gold Coast are going to demand a fair bit,” Rucci told SEN SA.
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"Who’s going to have the number one pick in the pre-season draft? North Melbourne, but you don’t expect them to go down that path. Number two is West Coast.
"I’m hearing West Coast are quite prepared to call Rankine’s name in the pre-season draft if they have to.
"They (Crows) have to do the deal."
Although, with ongoing negotiations around his potential move, Rankine is reported to be wanting to avoid a scenario where the threat of the pre-season draft is used to leverage talks between clubs - a tactic used by Carlton with Jack Martin in 2019.
RELATED: Has Izak Ranking played his last game at the Gold Coast?
Rankine is now the biggest name out of contract at the Suns, having been drafted with pick no.3 in the 2018 draft.
The speedy forward has kicked 57 goals from 48 games in four seasons on the Gold Coast.
