“When I came in, I think in my first interview, I said I want to play right-back. Obviously, I can play in different positions, but that wasn't what it was supposed to be.”
The irony that has surrounded Dujon Sterling in recent years is that injury has often been a semi-direct consequence of covering for others. The 26-year-old has rarely enjoyed a sustained, clean bill of health since joining Rangers in the summer of 2023 but, speaking in a rare interview ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with St Mirren and on the back of his longest run of form since moving to Glasgow, Sterling says there has been context and reason behind that.
Playing in one position, rather than covering others, has helped his body, he says, and now fully recovered from an Achilles injury that kept him out for most of 2025, Sterling is comfortable playing two games a week again.
Now one of Derek McInnes’ senior options in a young squad, the right-back is enjoying focusing on the football.
“Everything comes with different measures, and things happen. We had a lot of injuries. Injuries happen for a lot of players and luckily, I’ve been able to fill in there, so that's obviously why it happened," he continues on rarely playing in his designated role since moving to the club.
“I think it was last season, after I came back from the Achilles, you saw me playing right-back more.
“I think there are a lot of things that come with that. One is not playing in a different position every game. I've been playing right-back since the start of the season. You can see that, obviously, you get a rhythm. Your body just needs to play in that one position, and that's where I ideally want to play and where I've wanted to play since I've been here.
“Tav and me, I was thankful for the competition and then obviously doing my Achilles meant I wasn’t able to play twice a week. Whereas now, I’ve basically played every game this season. I'm in a good place.”
Work over the summer to identify the issues seems to have provided a line in the sand. Specialists still tell Sterling to “stay away” from 4G pitches due to the increased risk of an Achilles recurrence, although he says he would have played against Falkirk on the final day of last season if required.
Aside from that, he has quickly become McInnes’ first-choice right-back and the muscle memory, literally, of running up and down the right flank instead of marshalling the centre of defence, anchoring the midfield, starting on the right-wing or covering at left-back is proving a welcome break.
“Even when I was getting injured [in the past], we were rushing me back from injury to play in games because every game is important. So I might not be 100 per cent, but I'm coming back to play even if I'm at 50 per cent. That's probably why I was breaking down again.
“Whereas now, we identified the problems over the summer and you can see that I'm in a good place. I've missed only one game, and that was just because of the pitch, and that's from the specialist who said, for the Achilles, don't play on that pitch.”
Collectively, injuries are never far away, though. The loss of club captain Lawrence Shankland to a grade-two hamstring tear means McInnes will need to look elsewhere for goals. With Ryan Naderi, Kevin Kelsy and Bojan Miovski as options, Sterling believes sufficient firepower remains at the sharp end of the pitch.
Sterling continued: “Yeah, it's very upsetting. Obviously, he'll be out for a while, him and Youssef as well, so that's two strikers out. But obviously, we've got reinforcements; we spent in the summer and we've got bodies in the building. Hopefully Kevin can come in and score some goals and Ryan is in good form at the minute, so hopefully it can continue that way.”
Three straight wins have been just what the doctor ordered for McInnes’ side since the disaster of Jablonec. Two more victories at Ibrox this week, with St Mirren and Celtic visiting, would generate genuine optimism around the club. With the window now closed and a new squad developing, Sterling is one of the senior voices helping bring a new group together.
Sterling added: “Yeah, it's been good. There's a lot of positivity around the camp now. All the new players have played for a while and you can see there's a togetherness in the group, so it's been really good.
“Yeah, obviously there's me, Souts and Nico, who have been here the longest. So it's just about communicating with the new lads every day and helping them. Obviously it's difficult doing it off the pitch, as they’re in their homes and stuff, but when they're around the building it's just about showing them the right direction and showing them what Rangers is about."
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On the prospect of facing St Mirren, and specifically on-loan Arsenal winger Ismeal Kabia, he added: “We played them in the cup. It was a difficult game to start with and then obviously everything opened up, and we hit them on the transition a lot. I watched their game the other day, so I expect them to be very tough opposition.”
“I look forward to the challenge of every winger that wants to come up against me. A lot of them don't really want to try and take me on. But at the end of the day, I still try and do my job for the team. And if he's going to be direct, hopefully I'm up for the challenge.”
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