Alex Rance will not play for Richmond again in 2019

Richmond defender Alex Rance was desperate to return for the finals but he explains why he decided to abort his comeback from an ACL injury.

Alex Rance is helped off the ground in Round 1. Picture: Michael Klein

A team-first attitude and the risk of blowing another season in his prime ultimately forced Alex Rance’s decision to pull the pin on a miracle comeback bid.

Rance told his teammates early on Wednesday he had abandoned his long-shot attempt to rejoin Richmond’s 2019 premiership assault.

The five-time All-Australian defender wrecked his knee against Carlton in Round 1 but was desperate to emulate Tyson Goldsack’s extraordinary return from a reconstruction last season.

It has been five months since he had surgery.

Rance, 29, had ramped up his training in recent weeks but was always a remote chance to make it back.

“If I came back in a final and ruptured my knee and that cost us that game I would never be able to forgive myself,” Rance said in a video on the club’s website.

“That’s something I couldn’t live with.”

Teammate Dylan Grimes told SEN that Rance had made the “really unselfish call to put the club first”.

The move removes a potential dilemma for Tigers coach Damien Hardwick, whose backline has gelled superbly in the second halfof the season.

Grimes, David Astbury, Nick Vlastuin and Nathan Broad have so far stood the test in a remodelled Richmond defence.

Alex Rance leaves the field after injuring his ACL earlier in the season.

Tigers officials have insisted all year that Rance’s comeback bid was too big a risk to take.

“My leg strength is really good. It’s stronger than it was before,” Rance said.

“The range that I have in my knee is probably 95 per cent and really close to full extension.

“The speed and endurance work that I’ve been doing, I feel really comfortable that I could play (but) the weave and changeof direction is probably something I need to work on a little.

“The thing I couldn’t control is the graft itself and how well that knits within my knee.

“That’s one thing which is a real unknown and something that the club and I had to think good and hard whether we’ll goingto take that risk or not.

“Some things I wasn’t willing to risk was the game day emotional toll that a re-injury could have taken.”

The only other Tiger ruled out for the year is Jack Higgins.

The young star suffered bleeding on his brain earlier this year.