Alex Rance deserves to be in All-Australian reckoning, tributes to Ben Rutten, Lenny Hayes and Daniel Giansiracusa
DAMIEN Hardwick has lamented “Alex Rance moments”. He can now laud the Alex Rance moment. RE-CAP ROBBO’S LIVE CHAT.
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DAMIEN Hardwick has lamented “Alex Rance moments”.
He can now laud the Alex Rance moment.
It wasn’t a single act of courage or desperation — it was a quarter of courage and desperation.
“He is a warrior of a competitor,” Tigers great Matthew Richardson said of Rance yesterday.
Heroes were plentiful for Richmond on Saturday night and in a wonderfully tense game and an epic final 10 minutes, every possession, every tackle and every knock-on played its role in the victory.
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It is said often, sometimes without substance, but this was certainly one for the ages.
Mostly everyone who watched would have a story of euphoria. The pubs in Swan St, which is Richmond’s heartland, rocked at the final siren. They were crazy scenes. New Year’s Eve 10 times over.
It had you thinking, if this is what happens for a home and away game, albeit one of significance, God give us strength if the nine-week fairytale continues for another month.
They couldn’t ... could they?
They play Port Adelaide next Sunday at Adelaide Oval and it shouldn’t be a journey of fear.
The Tigers this season have beaten Brisbane, West Coast, Greater Western Sydney, Adelaide and now Sydney on the road. The one contest against Port Adelaide — at Etihad in Round 17 — saw victory by 20 points.
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The Tigers believe which is arguably the most important component of competing.
And perhaps there’s no more a fierce competitor at Punt Rd than Alex Rance.
His performance against the Swans was simply magic. All week he would’ve been thinking Franklin, Franklin, Franklin. Imagine it. Going to sleep every night knowing you have to stop the most devastating big forward in the game and that if you didn’t, the game was probably lost.
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Then Lance Franklin was out of the team. Rance had to re-set mentally.
He would play on Kurt Tippett for half the game, on Dean Towers for 22 minutes, Adam Goodes for 18 minutes and Sam Reid for 14 minutes.
He conceded just 12 disposals, two marks and a single goal.
Numbers are not nearly adequate to describe Rance’s influence.
Football is about executing in the moment. It’s about standing up when the pressure is at its most savage and the moment at its most telling. It’s these moments which define champions.
Rance is not a champion, but he played a champion’s game.
His final quarter was a bomb. He had six intercept possessions, four of which were marks, five spoils and two tackles.
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He was colossal, and yet even at the death there was an Alex Rance moment.
After his final mark, all Rance had to do was find a teammate or kick to a contest down the line. He kicked it out of bounds on the full. There was forgiveness for Rance had been mighty, but if the Tigers had lost, that moment would be remembered.
Teammate Jack Riewoldt said yesterday he told Rance after the game it was the best quarter he’s seen anyone play. “Defensively we could not have asked for more out of Alex,” Jack said.
Of course, there’s been better quarters but Riewoldt’s comments reflect the magnitude of Richmond’s performance in the second half of the season.
Everything about it is huge and memorable and epic.
At Round 14, Port Adelaide was on top of the ladder with 11 wins and Richmond was equal bottom with Brisbane and St Kilda with three wins. That’s epic.
Rance’s worth as All Australian is absolute.
He’s played 17 games which should be enough. He played Round 1, missed five games because of injury (he fell off a bike, fracturing a foot) and returned for Round 7.
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Since then he has been ranked No. 1 for intercept possessions with 132, 12 ahead of the next best, teammate Troy Chaplin. He’s also ranked No. 1 for intercept marks in the same period.
He is a one-on-one beast, winning 41 per cent of the contests. The league average is 29 per cent.
Crucial, too, is the fact he’s given up just 23 goals in 17 games, with four of them coming via Franklin in Round 14.
An All-Australian jumper clearly beckons.
END OF AN ERA
AND finally it is over for Lenny Hayes, Ben Rutten and Daniel Giansiracusa.
Others went at the weekend, such as two-time premiership player Josh Hunt, bit it wasn’t the same. When you leave your club for another, the warmth is somewhat stripped. Hunt was a popular and important player at Geelong. At GWS, he was basically an on-field assistant coach there for his experience.
The warmth for Hayes and Rutten at the Adelaide Oval was football at its finest, at its most respectful.
Hayes has had more guards of honour than the Governor-General and yesterday was the official, ultimate finality.
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He goes with great honour and a record that may never be surpassed.
He needed eight tackles to become the No. 1 tackler in the history of the game. He had eight before half-time and 13 by its end.
Oddly, when you think of Hayes, you don’t necessarily think tackles.
Hayes was manic in offence, in defence, in the midfield and, it has been said, sometimes at the bar. Saints players have enjoyed the send-off, but they are sickened (sarcasm) by all the love.
“He’s not that perfect,” they joke. But who cares. He was a legend of the Saints and a future AFL Hall of Famer.
Rutten’s departure was almost perfect. His last kick of the footy was a goal and to see his teammates swamp him was a terrific send-off.
He was the “Truck” by name and by movement. He held down full-back for probably 220 of his 229 games. He played more than 20 games a season for nine years, which tells us he was durable, reliable and crucial to Adelaide’s defence.
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Only eight Crows players have played more games than Rutten.
At the Bulldogs, Gia could’ve been the hero in his final game.
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His last three kicks were a point and two out of bounds, the final kick missing from 15m.
He was gutted at the end, not nearly as much as Jake Stringer was for dropping a mark, but gutted all the same.
The fairytale was close enough to touch.
Five goals down in the third quarter, Gia helped spark the comeback with a goal from almost 50m.
The Dogs fought and fought against a young team which fought and fought back. For a Round 23 game, it was played with great intent.
Gia finished on 265 games, which placed him eighth on the all-time list at the Bulldogs.
To describe him, you’d say he was footballer first and athlete second. He was just 182cm and 83kg, but managed 265 games because of football wit and skill, courage and good hands overhead. The lasting image of Gia is him snapping a goal around the body.
He simply had a knack of getting in the right spot at the right time and for a forward. That’s a skill to die for.
Originally published as Alex Rance deserves to be in All-Australian reckoning, tributes to Ben Rutten, Lenny Hayes and Daniel Giansiracusa
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