Injured star Alex Rance concedes he had mixed feelings after Richmond’s grand final demolition
Alex Rance says he made the right decision not to push for a finals comeback from ACL surgery despite his bittersweet emotions on Saturday afternoon.
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Alex Rance says he made the right decision not to test his surgically repaired knee this year but admits he took time to come to grips with the club’s premiership.
The five-time All Australian told the Herald Sun on Sunday he believed the decision showed he could put the club’s best interest ahead of his own.
But Rance conceded until star forward Tom Lynch dragged him into the club’s premiership celebrations post-match those emotions were bittersweet.
He shared an emotional discussion with injured Grand Final stars Stephen Coniglio, Callan Ward and Jack Graham pre-match, aware everyone wanted to be out on the field.
“It was hard for me yesterday. I was thinking about it this morning, I didn’t know where I sat.
“Am I player or staff or supporter? Where do I fit in the scheme of things, and it’s why I felt part of the VFL program because I was there as a coach.
“It takes time and it took people drawing me in and telling me where I fit. For Lynch in his first year, I was pretty emotional and standing with Jack Graham and he’s like, get in here, get in here. You do belong here, this is your place.”
Fellow backman Dylan Grimes paid tribute to Rance’s selflessness, declaring him “the best key defender in the modern era”.
“He’s heartbroken that the injury has hurt him this year and he wasn’t able to get out as much as he would have liked to or we would have liked him to,” Grimes said.
“But he’s just such a consistent figure among the playing group for so long now. It’s really been amazing to see someone put the club first in that that scenario where they probably had the right to think ‘Poor Me’.
“But Rancey’s gone outside himself the whole year and for my development it’s been the best thing possible.
“To play with the player and learn so much from him on-field but then off-field to have him this year while he’s been injured but in my corner as a mentor has been phenomenal for my development.
“He’s just a superstar and I think people forget pretty quickly how amazing a player he is.
“I think he’s without doubt the best key defender in the modern era.”
Rance had made dramatic progress in his return from a Round 1 ACL reconstruction but in the end he and the club decided to pull the pin on his comeback.
He said he was adamant he had made the correct call despite those swirling emotions.
“Yes Part of me is (thinking) we could have played with 18 men because it was a bit of a whitewash but I did make the right decision culturally,” he said.
“Culturally I made the right decision because whenever you say I am putting you over me (it’s the right call).
“I think I made the right decision in that as a leader. That’s the hard part. I had my surgeon who had done Tyson Goldsack’s knee and he said I can’t definitively tell you that you will bust it again because who would have thought you would do it in the first place?
“But I had to think about the reputations of our doctors and it’s more than just my knee, I want to do whatever I want with it. I had some strong conversations with Dimma and our doctor Reg (Greg Hickey) and we came to the general consensus.”
Originally published as Injured star Alex Rance concedes he had mixed feelings after Richmond’s grand final demolition
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