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Thursday's great game exposed the genius of Alex Rance

28th March, 2019
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Roar Guru
28th March, 2019
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The first great game of the season took place Thursday night at the MCG.

And the first premiership-defining result did, too.

Richmond and Collingwood played at a very high level throughout the night, two uber-talented teams giving everything they had. Alex Rance haters won’t want to hear this, but his absence in the Tiger backline was the entire difference.

In a game that was no more than a three-goal gap throughout the evening until the end, there were easily four occasions on either end of the stadium where the Magpie defence worked together to save a goal that Richmond could or should have scored, and where the Tigers’ defence couldn’t coordinate well enough to stop a Collingwood goal that frankly should have been stopped.

In the fourth, of course, the Tigers did what they had to do: take chances down the spine and try long, risky kicks that would regularly get intercepted. Losing by two goals isn’t inherently more impressive than losing by seven, so Hardwick was right to risk possession for the chance to make up several goals in the final period.

Would Richmond have won with Rance present (and Jack Riewoldt’s wrist healthy)? Probably not – Collingwood executed its midfield game better than they did throughout the night – the Pies kicked for 174 marks, exactly what they wanted to do against the pressure D of the Tigers, methodically probing the midfield for fifteen-metre chunks of real estate, never regretting a backwards kick if it kept control of the footy.

Alex Rance after tearing his ACL

Alex Rance won’t play again in 2019. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

But the game was played on very even terms through three periods, excepting a few defensive lapses in yellow and a lack of corresponding breakdowns in stripes. Rather than three-goal losers at three-quarter time, Richmond would have been within a kick at worse with their defensive structure of two weeks ago intact.

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And when they’re in the thick of the fight, they react differently than they had to in the fourth Thursday night.

Collingwood was the absolute worst opponent they could have faced the first week out from losing the defenceman of the decade. The Tigers already had the albatross around their neck from the way Mason Cox and friends splayed them on a platter three “rounds” ago (in footy time), and their psyche did them no favours when the American scored the first goal of the game.

Mason Cox

Mason Cox of the Magpies celebrates a goal (Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

But the game exposed what we feared: taking away Alex Rance from the Richmond defence was more than taking away his statistics, daunting though that alone would be. Bob Murphy showed why on AFL 360 the other night – his influence across the entire back and halfback line is unparalleled.

His leadership on the field can’t be duplicated by players who have never had to fill Rancian shoes at the AFL level before, at least not on a whim. There are some who can fill in the posts sufficiently as individuals, but where they broke down last night was when team coordination was demanded.

Team coordination certainly isn’t going to get replaced, Not in the next few games, at least.

Their next few games match them against superb offensive threats – the Giants, the Power, Sydney, and Melbourne. It’s not unimaginable to see them get to 1-5 before they figure this out, especially if Jack Riewoldt’s wrist is underdone and he is ineffective or watching from the sideline.

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I’m praying this isn’t about to become Richmond’s own “annus horriblis” – they deserve better.

When they play their brand of ball, that Sherrin flies down the field as it did on many occasions last night, barely impeded by the best of defences before splitting the uprights. But they may not get that opportunity often enough without their star defenceman controlling the sound board in the back that allows the musicians up front to make their beautiful music.

And those people who haven’t understood just how good Rance is are about to find out in the ugliest way possible – through his absence.

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