When your star defender walks, feel free to let ripMatt Cunningham
Herald-Sun
June 07, 2015 IT’S a bit of a shock when your toddler drops the F-bomb for the first time. And it’s hard not to feel a bit responsible.
Or, in my case, solely responsible.
“F---ing ants,” my son called out one morning about three years ago, some time after his second birthday.
At least that’s what I thought he said and, really, there was only one other possibility.
I’d been using the most versatile adjective in the English language to describe two things; the little black insects that had invaded our home and Alex Rance, the Richmond defender who is a much better player now than he was then.
“F---ing Rance”, the 2012 version of the All-Australian defender, had a nasty habit of making bad mistakes and turning the ball over, much to the expletive-ridden dismay of Tiger fans.
Which brings me to something that really makes me want to swear. Free agency.
It’s about the only subject that can wipe the grin off a Tiger fan’s face this weekend after Friday night’s win over the Dockers.
It’s the rule that can see a player walk out on a club that’s spent years turning him from a raw but frustrating talent into one of the best players in the game.
Rance is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, by virtue of the fact he is not in the club’s nine best-paid players.
That fact is often highlighted in footy circles, where memories can be shorter than a Carlton winning streak.
True Tiger fans will remember, however, that it was not that long ago that Rance was more often a liability than an asset. He is surely responsible for more than a few of the wrinkles now etched on coach Damien Hardwick’s face.
To Hardwick and the Tigers’ credit they stuck with the musclebound defender.
His once-ordinary ball skills are now better than average and his questionable decision-making is now impeccable.
Rance is one of the league’s best players. But rather than reaping the rewards of their hard work, Richmond could be forced to watch on helpless as Rance, the free agent, walks to another club. A $4 million deal at Brisbane is reportedly on the table. There’s also a chance he might be lost to God, but that’s another story.
Rance — along with Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield — has become this year’s “will he or won’t he” story, one that history suggests almost always ends badly for loyal fans.
Gary Ablett, Tom Scully, Buddy Franklin and James Frawley are among the biggest names to move on under free agency.
It’s a system that’s left big cheques in the accounts of player agents, but nothing but questions and tears for armies of young fans.
When Franklin left Hawthorn for Sydney, Shane Crawford sat his son Charlie down to tell him the bad news.
“His reaction as a seven-year-old boy slightly surprised me ... he started to cry,” Crawford said.
For diehard footy fans, there are really only two words to describe the AFL’s free agency rules. One of them is joke. My son knows the other one.
http://www.news.com.au/national/when-your-star-defender-walks-feel-free-to-let-rip/story-e6frfkp9-1227386429127
