Richmond coach Damien Hardwick glad Alex Rance 'saw the light' Daniel Cherny
The Age
June 26, 2015 Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says he is glad star defender Alex Rance "saw the light" and decided to remain in football.
Rance, 25, explained earlier in the week that he had thought about giving up the sport before deciding that he could still fulfil his duties as a Jehovah's Witness while playing for the Tigers. He therefore signed a four-year deal to stay at the club.
Hardwick said it would have been disappointing for the game to lose a player of Rance's calibre.
"We're just really excited that he saw the light from our point of view. He's an incredible player, he's in All-Australian form once again so it would have been really sad, not only for Richmond but for AFL in general if he had have walked away," Hardwick said at Melbourne Airport ahead of the trip to Sydney and a Friday night date with the Swans at the SCG.
Hardwick said he never thought that Rance would end up at another club, believing that it would be Richmond or retirement for the key backman.
The sixth-season coach thought that the similarities between Rance and other players were greater than was commonly perceived, suggesting that many players - especially stars - liked to get away from football.
"It's a pretty full-on environment the AFL system as we know. There's media, there's social media,there's a lot of meetings, they spend a lot of time at the footy club, players like to go away and spend some time with their family."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-coach-damien-hardwick-glad-alex-rance-saw-the-light-20150625-ghxhqq.html