Richmond confident Alex Rance will re-sign JON RALPH
Herald Sun
June 17, 2015 7:00PMRICHMOND boss Brendon Gale believes the Tigers are closing in on the signature of Alex Rance, confident he is working through his off-field issues.
Unrestricted free agent Rance is the game’s best defender but would leave the Tigers uncompensated if he walked away from football.
The Jehovah’s Witness has considered whether to abandon sport to travel overseas with his partner.
But Gale said on Wednesday he believed Rance would re-sign with the Tigers after emerging as one of the league’s best defenders in recent years.
Rance is one of Richmond’s few uncontracted players this year, with his signature to cap a period in which the Tigers have locked away their stars long-term.
“We remain very confident Alex Rance will be a Richmond player for years to come,’’ Gale told SEN Radio.
“He has some things in his life he values other than footy and we respect that so we are letting him work through those things in his own time.
“But that is coming to a head now. We need to plan our list and build for the future but without going too far into it, I am very confident Alex will be a Richmond player.”
The contract extension is not imminent but the Tigers believe Rance wants to play on at Punt Rd.
Rance’s teammates have reported that he could not be happier at the club despite conjecture over his future.
Gale played four representative games for Tasmania but showed why there is so little support at club level for State-of-Origin.
Asked how he would react if Brett Deledio was injured in a mid-season state game, he said: “I don’t mind sitting at home with a beer on the couch watching another code belt the hell out of each other.
“I couldn’t stand it. Andy Collins ran over (Hawthorn teammate) Tony Hall and it could have cost them the flag in 1989.”
The Herald Sun on Wednesday reported Hawthorn’s call for a review of the AFL’s equalisation levers next year, with Gale agreeing they needed further attention.
“We contribute $200,000 (in revenue tax) and Collingwood are out half a million with $30 million more turnover (than us).
“Philosophically as a club we support equalisation. There are big clubs and they are not big clubs because they are smarter or work harder — there are structural factors with bad stadium deals and historical factors.
“There needs to be equalisation. Where the money comes from — that is up for dispute.
“We have a structure in place that supports equalisation and two years to see how it works.
“The end of 2016 is the appropriate time to sit down and review it again root and branch.”
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