Richmond star Alex Rance reveals he’s constantly thinking about retirement despite his success

RICHMOND premiership star Alex Rance “constantly” thinks about walking away from football despite his individual and team success — and he can’t guarantee whether he will play beyond the end of next season.

RICHMOND premiership star Alex Rance “constantly” thinks about walking away from football.

And he can’t guarantee whether he will play beyond the end of next season.

Rance, 28, almost quit AFL in 2015 amid what he described as “conflict” between football and his faith.

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The Jehovah’s Witness signed a four-year contract extension that year, which is set to expire at the end of 2019.

Beyond then, while it may not be “what the club wants to hear”, the Tigers vice-captain admits he isn’t sure what the future will hold.

“Yeah (it has occurred to me since 2015) — it’s constantly occurring to me,” Rance told the Herald Sun.

Alex Rance says he constantly thinks about retirement even despite Richmond’s premiership win last year. Picture: Getty

“Like, how much longer do I want to play for? Physically, I feel like I could play for a long, long time, but am I going to play until my legs give out, or am I going to play until I want to pursue something else with as much hunger and passion as I do football?

“It’s a constant thing for me.”

Rance said he lives “pretty much off the cuff” and said peering into his future wasn’t part of his psyche.

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That’s the fun of it.

“I don’t want to set myself a 10-year plan and that, ‘You’ve got to do all these things’, because it’s like — where’s the excitement in that?,” the Wolf Blass ambassador said.

“I take every year how it comes and see how it feels, which is probably not what the club wants to hear. I’ve got this year and next year and who knows after that.”

The defender has an All-Australian captain jacket hanging in his closet and a premiership medallion on hand after last year’s drought-breaking Tigers victory.

Richmond vice-captains Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt with the “tangible evidence” Rance says drives the group. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Previous years have seen extended holidays for some players — including Rance — who have returned to pre-season training later than others.

Not this year — there was no holding him back. It was day one, raring to go.

Rance and his teammates returned to the MCG turf on Friday for the first time since the Grand Final triumph. There were “goosebumps” as he relived where he was on the ground when the siren went, to spotting his parents watching on from a corporate box as celebrations fired up.

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He said Richmond would not shy away from talking about its hunger to chase a repeat of its success this season, and that reinforcing it would be vital.

The premiership cup hangs in the foyer and a team photo taken minutes after the cup presentation in the club’s theatrette — the tangible evidence Rance said was invaluable to driving the reigning premiers.

“Belief is repeating a thought regularly enough,” he said.

Alex Rance returned on day one of pre-season. Picture: Michael Klein

“For us to believe that we’re going to be successful, we’ve got to keep repeating the same thoughts and the same actions and have that same hunger — always — to be able to continue on.

“It gives you that tangible evidence that yep, that’s what we’ve got to try and achieve again.”

And the visible evidence of glory has worked — as recently as this week.

“When the tough times come … say you’ve got a tough three-week block and every day is a grind, you’re like, ‘Hey, you blokes, remember when we won the flag?’ – it happened just the other day,” Rance smiled.

“Everything gets made so much better and more fun and you see tangible evidence of the hard work that you put in when for so many years, you put in all of this hard work and just fall short and just fall short.

“You wonder whether it’s actually worth it. But when you get that tangible evidence of, ‘This is the success you can get if you put in all this hard work’, it makes it worthwhile.”