'Let him loose': Crows coach on return of banned star

And his coach Matthew Nicks noted a "slightly different" Rankine since his four-game suspension for a slur against Collingwood's Isaac Quaynor in an August 16 match last season.

"(He's) very motivated," Nicks told reporters on Tuesday.

"I'm not saying he wasn't motivated prior, but just to another level.

"Just on preparing himself, knowing it was actually round two of 2026 - right from the start, he knew: 'This is what I will serve and this is the time I will be back and I'll make sure I'm ready to go, I want to be the best for my teammates that I possibly can be'.

"He has done right throughout pre-season.

"So we have added another leader ... he's had input into everything.

"Even though he was not going to play the weekend just gone, he was motivating players as we were heading off to Melbourne to go and play.

"He is going to be one where players will stand a little bit taller knowing he's out there next to them this week."

Rankine has told of wanting to quit the AFL after his homophobic slur.

"The turning point was being at the bottom and thinking what else: I can either just sit here, wave the white flag and give up," he told the Tommy Talks Podcast last month.

"Because I wanted to retire, I wanted to finish and I was like: 'I don't want to do this no more, I'm done'."

But Nicks commended the 25-year-old for returning and working to improve away from the field, as much as on-field .

"We go away and learn from things we don't get right," Nicks said.

"And I think Izak has done a hell of a lot of work on what he's doing off-field, he's an incredible human; what he's doing on-field, the way he's going to hold himself.

"I am really confident on what you're going to see from him."

Rankine may struggle with match fitness against the Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval, he said.

"Izak is going to have a bit of that," Nicks said.

"But he's also got a different game: he's explosive, he's an endurance athlete with elite speed, so we will just let him loose."