Alex Rance yet to decide if he wants to play football next yearAl Paton
Herald-Sun
May 31, 2015 3:24PMRICHMOND star Alex Rance is yet to decide if he wants to play football at all next year, his manager says.
Rance comes out of contract at the end of this season and the All-Australian defender will be the subject of a huge offer from the Brisbane Lions, where his close friend Justin Leppitsch is coach.
But Rance’s manager Tom Petroro says Rance could still walk away from footy altogether.
“Alex has been pretty honest in publicly saying that he’s still weighing up the decision as to whether he wants to play or not next year,” Petroro said on Triple M on Sunday.
“So I think there’s a little bit more to this one than just a player weighing up what offers are out there.”
Petroro conceded Richmond and Tiger fans would be nervous about the fact the 25-year-old, who is a committed Jehova’s Witness, is yet to put pen to paper.
“No doubt they’d be getting toey because he’s in All-Australian form again.
“Obviously, by the way he plays and how passionate he goes about it it’s hard for people to look at it and say why would he not want to play but the (pressure of the game) makes players have a little bit of a choice and say, ‘Do I still want to keep doing this or don’t I?’.
“Richmond released a statement about three weeks ago saying Richmond, myself and Alex were in continual discussions. We’ll continue to have those discussions, we won’t play them out publicly, and when we’re in a position to make a decision then we will.
“His contract ends on October 31, we’ve still got 5-6 months to weigh up a decision, I don’t know the rush.”
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