"If you're an adventurer and keen to challenge yourself and help others achieve, I'd love you to join me.
Richmond fullback Alex Rance has shocked the football world, announcing his retirement from the game. Alex Rance has sent shockwaves throughout the AFL community after calling him on his illustrious career after 200 games with Richmond.
He's flirted with premature retirement before, and even though he opted against it on those occasions, the notion alone proved he was only ever operating on his own schedule, doing things his own way with the bigger picture always in mind.Which might explain the resilient smile on the first Thursday night of the season. Spots are limited. What we didn't know was that his AFL career was over too.It's easy to forget Rance's inauspicious start to life in the league, but it took several years for his assortment of gifts to properly align.
Now she can't give him a funeralMick disappeared, aged 18, in 1973 – his family want to stop the 'blanket of grief' happening to othersTruck company manager charged with manslaughter over crash that killed four police officersThe story of hydroxychloroquine tells us everything that's wrong with 2020Analysis: Governments are facing tough questions on how this has gone so terribly wrong. His first half on that day was as good as anything he had produced before or since, and his influence on the game only waned once Adelaide's forward forays did.A sure-fire sign of a player's greatness is the lengths opposition fans go to to disparage them. That term is, of course, completely relative — you may not believe he is the best full-back of all time, and he probably isn't, but the fact that a number of well-respected and highly-informed experts believe it's a discussion worth having tells you everything.But while these debates will continue to rage, it's hard to imagine Alex Rance really cares.His decision to "put the same time and energy into other areas of my life" feels surprising and final, but also very true to the man.
"Right now, 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 last year when he announced his retirement. Alex Rance is gone but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is seeing more and more of the Tigers’ modern day great in young cub Noah Balta. Here are some cluesCoronavirus update: Thousands protest against restrictions in Berlin, cases surge across AsiaWhy experts want Australia's bushfire strategy to go beyond the blazesVictoria lockdown should lead to reconsideration of JobKeeper changes, Labor saysHow an 'unwritten law' helped a young woman get away with murder on the dancefloorIran says it has detained US-based opposition leader over 2008 bombingHooded plover numbers on the rise thanks to reduced visitor numbers
Foe-turned-best-friend Jack Riewoldt was in tears in the middle of a sombre MCG — or at least as sombre as 50,000 victorious members of the yellow and black army can be.At the time, as he limped gingerly on crutches, most observers assumed Rance's 2019 season was over.
Alex Rance was a generational defender who embodied the best of a bygone era and ushered in a new one, but even in his shock retirement, he was always uniquely himself. For those that could see which way the game was going, he was a revolutionary.You could go to a football match, watch nothing but Rance and come away entertained and educated.
His teammates looked like they'd just witnessed a car crash. Rance has spoken openly about the challenges of balancing his career with his faith.
By Marc Churches. He was a total defender, a hybrid of styles and eras, a throwback to days gone by and somehow still ahead of his time.One-on-one, there was nobody better in the game. It was everything great about Alex Rance and confirmed suspicions he was more than a little special.He could have had a Norm Smith Medal too, had the Crows put up more of a fight in the 2017 grand final.
Here are some cluesCoronavirus update: Thousands protest against restrictions in Berlin, cases surge across Asia'It's a gimmick': There's more to your world map than meets the eyeThe race to house Canberra's booming population is putting pressure on the 'bush capital'Luciano has been waiting nine years for knee surgery — he's one of 52,000 Queenslanders stuck in a growing queue'Every reason to believe' tougher restrictions will be needed, Victorian Premier saysCOVID-19 fears grow for asylum seekers in Melbourne detentionAnalysis: We're about to find out the biggest corporate winners and losers from COVID-19Live: Victorians brace for possibility of tougher coronavirus restrictions as mystery case numbers increase723 new coronavirus cases was shocking, but this number may be even worseTruck company manager charged with manslaughter over crash that killed four police officersMick disappeared, aged 18, in 1973 – his family want to stop the 'blanket of grief' happening to othersHow an 'unwritten law' helped a young woman get away with murder on the dancefloorLive: Victorians brace for possibility of tougher coronavirus restrictions as mystery case numbers increaseAnalysis: 723 new coronavirus cases was shocking, but this number may be even worseSick with COVID-19, Magda didn't know her husband had died. Feb 16th, 2020 .
James McKern @jLmcKern news.com.au December 19, 2019 10:44am He wore Kurt Tippett like a glove in the frantic closing stages and still had 12 intercept possessions for the match. Feb 16th, 2020.
Those early seasons were often clunky, the brain not quite in cahoots with the hulking body, and confidence clearly an issue.Naturally, as is the case with most young key position players, time was the greatest healer.
It probably explains the reflective ease with which he strolled around the MCG this September, Richmond jersey on and cap turned backwards, after his teammates had won a premiership without him.And it definitely explains why everything about this decision feels right.
“The way I play conflicts, but the way I lead conforms,” Rance told The Stack Report in 2018.