Richmond have suffered a huge blow just before Christmas, with superstar key defender Alex Rance announcing a shock immediate retirement.
In a club statement, he said he wanted to focus more on spending time with his family and practising his faith as a Jehovah’s Witness.
“I am someone who will always give their best to what they commit to, and I’m proud of the time, energy and dedication that I’ve put towards my football career,” he said.
“Right now, I feel I have served my purpose in terms of my on-field performance and cultural impact, and I’m so grateful to the football club for their support and care in allowing me to do that in my own unique way.
“Now I feel is the right time for me to put the same time and energy into other areas of my life that need it, and to prioritise the more important things to me, such as my spiritual growth, my family and friends.”
The 30-year-old was easily the best key defender in the game in his prime, earning five consecutive All Australian honours from 2014 to 2018. He was an integral part in the club’s drought-breaking premiership win in 2017, as well as being named All Australian captain that year.
His 2019 season, however, was cut down by an ACL tear in the very first match which, cruelly, was his 200th.
While speculation mounted that he was on track to make a surprise return for the finals series, he ultimately missed out on the club’s 2019 premiership triumph – their second in three seasons.
Richmond CEO Brendon Gale paid tribute to the key defender, calling him “clearly one of the greatest players to have pulled on the Richmond jumper.”
“Alex has been the ultimate competitor, an incredible character of the Club, and a fine example of a Richmond Man.
“Although he’s stepping away from playing football, he’ll always be part of Richmond and we wish him and his family all the best for the future.”
Retirement rumours actually surrounded the key defender for much of 2015 too. With Rance out of contract, many sources claimed he was over the stress and grind of professional football and was contemplating walking away from the game altogether.
However, he won the club’s best and fairest that season – surprisingly the only time he’s done so – and ended up staying on, although he did reveal later that he decided in 2014 that the next season would be his last.
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
This man will have no fear facing the crowds on the lap of honour for retiring greats on grand final day 2020.
Eddie from Elwood
Roar Rookie
Yep. ????????????????
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Good to see you are still alive there Matto. With all this we will conquer no matter what I can’t wait for the fall of the ‘dynasty’. Now with young Barrass, he might yet prove to be better than a good average player.
dankswonderelixir
Guest
Rance great player and simply the best across HB. He did become predisposed to feigning free kicks a bit to often for my liking particularly the last couple of years however this will not detract from his deserved recognition as one of the greats certainly of the last decade.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Phil Davis was on one leg and basically could not break into a sprint … he was 10 meters behind his man after about three strides. Seriously… a random from the crowd could not have done any worse. Giants rolled the dice on Davis and got it wrong.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Agree it could be an ‘either/or’ decision in Rance’s mind because Armageddon is imminent after all (and has been since the late 1800s according to JWs). Even if this is an apparently urgent decision, there is a fair chance that ‘future Rance’ will shake his indoctrination at some point..and if that happens he will greatly regret the decisions of ‘2019 Rance’ both financially and also from an experience point of view (unless this is a retirement decision based purely on family reasons). We all make decisions we regret, and if this retirement decision was religiously motivated then this could be a massive regret for Rance if he was to become an ex-JW in the future… I agree that Rance’s career doesn’t seem typical of a JW … it reminds me of Serena Williams who is also an unlikely JW…so Rance/Williams are both unlikely JWs but both have forged ahead in long-standing professional sports careers nevertheless. If I was a betting man I’d put money on future Rance waking up from his JW indoctrination at some point and regretting the decision he made in 2019. And I know all AFL fans regret it already .. he was a fairly unique defender that was exciting to watch. Anyway good luck to him … you can’t accuse him of being mercenary (unlike Folau).
DTM
Guest
Grimes is no mug but he learnt a lot from Rance. Had Rance gone down 12 months earlier, Grimes may not be the player he is today.
DTM
Guest
Of course, there were never any forwards playing on Rance who got a free kick this way. The problem is not with Rance, it is with the rules that allow it to happen continually. In my view, Rance was a champion of the game who deserves respect - what have you ever done to earn the same level of respect?
DTM
Guest
I'm a WCE supporter and Barrass hasn't qualified to be compared to Rance.
PriddisJunior
Roar Rookie
Ah 2018. The yr of the plodders.
PriddisJunior
Roar Rookie
? Martin will have partied too hard… again, will be cooked come finals… again. Reiwouldt, cotch and houli are washed. Grimes is a B grader. Hope you don’t put any money on the Dogs, have 1 decent forward and he’s a sophomore.
ChrisH
Roar Rookie
Now we just gotta hope that Martin, Riewoldt, Grimes, Houli, Lynch and Cotchin also find Jehovah and follow Rance out the door! :laughing: Tho... the way the Tiges covered injuries this year... that might not be enough next year. (Tho I'm tipping Dogs as my early flag fave)
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Did you have 19 on at the same time?
ScottD
Roar Guru
mmm I hardly think the AFL world is in shock mate:) Maybe a little artistic license in the title don't you think?
sven
Roar Rookie
so according to u IAP "Cheating’s cheating, especially when they do it more than once" .......... so by that logic that puts a bloke like eg joel selwood (who i reckon is an absolute gun) in the same category as u know, he cheats when he drops the knees to get that high contact, all those players who grab opponents, block their run etc hey theyre in the same boat.... geez u must lead a pious life
RT
Roar Rookie
Three not four. You are overstating the Giants achievements.
Slane
Guest
You say it's not an 'either/or' decision but for some people it absolutely would be. One of the main points of difference between Jehovas Witnesses and other Christians is the rigidity of their law surrounding Idols, Idolatry and Idolaters. In other words, reveling in celebrity is discouraged. I'm an atheist but even I can see how being an AFL player would conflict with that particular set of JH beliefs.
Slane
Guest
The image of Leon Cameron waving down some random out of the crowd is pretty hilarious.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Not saying professional sports is the most important thing in the world….As a sports fan it’s just a shame not to see Rance on the field for the next few seasons. He’s a unique defender and would have been good to watch him play and make the most of his talent. He’s 30 years old so he had a maximum of say 5 years to go in his career which is nothing… he did say he wanted more time with family so fair enough. I hope family was the main driver. If the decision is all about him being a JW then surely he could have deferred the decision and played out his contract to 2021 and then gone on to devote more time to his religion. It’s not an ‘either or’ decision – he could be a professional sportsman and then still have 50 odd years to fill his boots on his religious journey.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Probably...a random person plucked from the crowd have done as well as some of the Giants key defenders who were playing injured.