Richmond defender Alex Rance announces shock AFL retirement
Alex Rance has revealed what initiated his sudden and stunning retirement as key Tigers feared for a month that the superstar defender was going to pull the pin on his 200-game career.
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Richmond feared a month ago that Alex Rance was going to pull the pin on his 200-game career.
Rance, 30, had grappled with the thought of retirement for years, but the urge intensified in recent weeks.
“I think he’s done,” Tigers list boss Blair Hartley, a close confidante of Rance’s, advised club chief executive Brendon Gale late last month.
The Tigers hoped the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction had given the five-time All-Australian a new sense of purpose, but he informed club chiefs of his decision to retire on Wednesday.
“I was shocked but not surprised,” Gale said.
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“Alex has been considering his life outside of football for a while. He’s an ‘all in, 150 per cent sort of guy’ and it got to the point where he felt he just couldn’t give footy his full attention.
“I think it’s weighed heavily on him, but he’s made a really strong decision — one that was about a life choice. It was nothing to do with his knee.”
The Tigers superstar has sacrificed more than $1.6 million over the next two years, but will remain on the Richmond list in 2020, leaving the slim hope he could reconsider and return to Punt Rd next year.
Rance gathered his teammates before training early Thursday in the Graeme Richmond room and told them it was done.
“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,” Rance said.
“Now is the right time 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.”
He said he had never properly dealt with the “underlying things” that had caused him to consider retirement four years ago.
“I treated footy almost like a Band-Aid or a drug … just keep at it, invest more time, invest more energy,” Rance said.
“I have no regrets … but I wish I had of been more honest with myself with what makes me happy and what I need.”
While losing one of the game’s greatest defenders, the Rance retirement will clear significant space in Richmond’s salary cap.
A devout Jehovah’s Witness with a passion for overseas travel, Rance, the 18th pick in the 2007 national draft, was contracted until the end of 2021.
“He leaves this club a highly decorated premiership player and it has been a privilege for all of us to watch him play,” Gale said.
“He is clearly one of the greatest players to have pulled on the Richmond jumper.”
Richmond captain Trent Cotchin acknowledged it was a decision Rance has been wrestling with for some time but respected his call to put his life away from football first.
“I think it has been part of the conversation for a little bit of time, but I think as a collective as a club it would be a little bit of a surprise,” Cotchin said.
“It’s probably just something that he has been wrestling with internally, he obviously had some people that he loves and cares about around him that have been incredible supporters for him and at the end of the day this is the conclusion that he came to.
“To me footy is just a game, I know a lot of people see it as a business and spots on lists and so forth but to me it is all about the health of a person whether it be mentally, physically, both, spiritually, you need to be at your best so you can give your best and that’s what we hope Rancey can find in the near future.”
Cotchin said the retirement of Rance would leave a huge hole at the Tigers but knowing the team was able to win a flag without him would help ease the pain.
“I like to think that a lot of the behaviours he has lived by for his lengthy career will live on through others that he has nurtured and been a big part of their careers,” he said.
“We have full faith in some of our young and up and coming players that will hopefully get an opportunity to fill the void.
“There is a little bit of sadness there bit even ‘Dimma’ (coach Damien Hardwick) spoke about it this morning, I think it’s an opportunity for others.
“There is a hole there much like last year when he went down with a knee injury for other guys to grow and flourish and give themselves a chance.”
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Rance was training with the Tigers as recently as Tuesday when the AFL and AFLW teams trained together at Punt Road.
Fellow defender Dylan Grimes said Rance was fit and moving well on the track with his teammates close to rejoining the main group.
Rance pushed hard to make it back for last year’s finals but said he would never have forgiven himself if he went down and cost his team the chance to win.
The Tigers are favourites to go back-to-back next year but Rance has foregone the chance to a have a crack at another AFL flag with his announcement.
Rance said his injured knee had no bearing on his decision.
“I wanted to make sure I got through my knee rehab, today I would’ve trained almost full training,” he said.
“I didn’t want it to be because of my knee I didn’t want it to be because my body was saying enough.
“I wanted to make it a clear choice and I wanted to make what was important to me a priority in my life.”
Asked if his disappointment in Rance’s decision had to do with the late timing of it just days away from the Christmas break after the completion of the trade and draft periods, Gale said it was more a selfish one to be losing a player of his quality.
“It’s just that he is a really good player. It’s a fiercely competitive caper and you want the best players available on the park more often than not,” Gale said.
“We were all eagerly anticipating Alex’s return, he had been training very well and I thought that he was going to make an immediate impact won our team and that’s not going to be the case.
“Call it a selfish disappointment, that’s what it was. But I’m not surprised, these things have weighed heavily on him and most importantly as I stand before you today I am extremely grateful and thankful that I got to watch him play.”
Rance departs with two years to run on his lucrative contract, which Gale said the Tigers would be “amended”.
Gale said Rance departed as one of the “finest” players to have played at the club, saying he leave big shoes to fill.
“He has been a remarkable player for this football club. He is a remarkable, talented, combative assertive leader that is all in,” Gale said.
“He is 150 per cent type player and highly decorated and is a premiership player and we are extremely thankful that he has been a Richmond man.
“He is certainly one of the finest defenders of the modern era.”
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Australian tennis star and Tiger fan Ash Barty paid tribute to Rance.
“It was a bit of a shock to the system but what Rancey has done for the Richmond footy club has been incredible,” she said.
“It is a decision he wouldn’t have taken lightly, I suppose, but all the best to him.
Grimesy did alright back there running the show so I think the Tiges will be alright.
“I think they will stick to their structures and whatever. I mean, I could sit here and talk about the Tigers for an hour, but I think they will be fine.”