Alex Rance opens up on his faith, footy and relationship with coach Damien Hardwick

ALEX Rance has shed new light on his Jehovah’s Witness faith, how close he came to quitting footy and his surprisingly rocky relationship with Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.

RICHMOND star Alex Rance has shed new light on his Jehovah’s Witness faith, how close he came to quitting footy and his surprisingly rocky relationship with coach Damien Hardwick.

The premiership defender and 2017 All-Australian captain called for more acceptance of people who are “not just a cookie cutter off the production line” and says he has no fears of the Tigers suffering a flag hangover.

Drafted with pick 18 in 2007, Rance’s career drifted for his first two seasons under Hardwick as he struggled to see eye-to-eye with his coach.

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“We are very different personalities,” he said of Hardwick in a lengthy interview with 20FOUR

“I think early days it would have been hard for Dimma to wrap his head around what I was about — am I just taking the piss or am I actually going to be a decent player for this club? Am I going to distract people?

“I was very outspoken about how I thought the game was, and I still don’t necessarily play the game by the game plan a lot of the time. It works out a lot of the time, sometimes it doesn’t.

Damien Hardwick celebrates with Alex Rance after the Grand Final.

The pair haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. Picture: Hamish Blair

“Our relationship had to grow from there. We do have a lot in common but it wasn’t as if we were super tight, having dinners every second week.”

Rance credited the influence of assistant coach Justin Leppitsch for kickstarting his career.

“In my first few years I was a tagger, a forward, a wingman, they started me as a running half-back but I couldn’t kick and hit a target, so then it was like, ‘What do we do with you?’.

“It wasn’t until Leppa came along, who is probably more of that father figure or older brother, who said, ‘You’ve got all these attributes, let’s funnel them into making you a really good key-position player’. That was the moment that sparked my career.”

Rance said he was “very very close” to quitting footy in 2015 to concentrate on his family and his faith.

Alex Rance says Justin Leppitsch is the biggest influence on his career.

The defender is a devout Jehovah’s Witness and wanted to spread God’s word, but ran into an unexpected hurdle.

“People need to make that decision for themselves so I found that quite conflicting — I wanted to talk to people about deeper issues but I didn’t want to have so much sway that they’d just do it because I’m Alex Rance the footballer. That weighed on my mind a lot from the spiritual perspective.”

In the end he decided he would miss footy too much, but his faith still presents challenges on the field, especially when he throws his weight around.

“When I want to talk to people about love and care, and they are definitely things that are central parts of being Jehovah’s Witness, that’s conflicting because I’m beating a guy up ... but then when I talk about the leadership side of things I definitely feel that I show that empathy, care, humility to try to make others better.

“It’s definitely not an easy road to walk.”

Alex Rance wrestles with Adelaide captain Taylor Walker during the Grand Final. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Asked if Richmond could reproduce the hunger that led to a shock premiership in 2017, Rance had no doubts. And he has a typically offbeat reason to aim for a second flag.

“It’s like a drug, it’s so addictive.

“I’d celebrate a different way (if Richmond wins another Grand Final). I don’t think I’d be running around like a headless chook again, I think I’d try to take more in.

“When Hawthorn won one of theirs I saw Ben Stratton running around with a GoPro on his head and I thought, ‘You look like a flog’ ... and now I think that is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen because forever he’ll have that and can just play it over and over.

“If we ever get the chance again, I’ll be getting a GoPro in my backpack for sure.”