Alex Rance can lay claim to being the best key defender in the AFLMatt Murnane
The Age
April 22, 2015If Richmond are unable to come to terms with soon-to-be free agent Alex Rance, and he walks to another club or from the game altogether, then the Tigers will lose one of the league's best defenders.
We know that because the All-Australian selectors told us so last year.
But if the Tigers star continues his rise, it might be that coach Damien Hardwick risks losing the best defender in the league come the end of the season.
Since his mighty performance against the Western Bulldogs in round two, the conversation around Rance has lifted a notch, and not just because his contract status and intentions for the future have made him a hot topic.
Having received due recognition in 2014 for his escalating impact, Rance appears to have taken his game to a new level in 2015, prompting former Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown and others to ponder this week: "Is he the best key defender in the league?"
The man who plays on him more than anyone, albeit at training, is certain that is the case.
"He's the best defender in the league," teammate Jack Riewoldt insisted in an appearance on Fox Footy's On The Couch this week.
"His ability to play on talls and smalls, he is really quick and really fit but can also bench 150 kilograms in the gym," he said.
"His actual footy nous has improved. He really thinks about the game and is strong in our meetings.
"His ability to win the ball back is certainly something he has added to his bow. We saw that in the Bulldogs game, but I think the biggest stage we saw it on was against Sydney in round 23 last year when he had four or five intercept marks in the last quarter."
You would be hard pressed to put anyone ahead of Rance at the moment. Contenders to rate him against for both offensive and defence output, in no particular order, might be Hawthorn's Brian Lake, Adelaide's Daniel Talia, Geelong's Harry Taylor, North Melbourne's Scott Thompson, injured West Coast Eagle Eric Mackenzie, while Essendon are blessed to have both Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley, who are fast developing into an elite pairing.
And there are others, such as Hawk Josh Gibson and perhaps Fremantle's Michael Johnson, who you could argue belong in a different category, although no less effective.
From a statistical viewpoint, not to mention impact, Melbourne's Tom McDonald is another who deserves to be in the discussion.
Although still under the radar, McDonald ranks No.1 for spoils, No. 2 for intercept possessions and equal third for intercept marks and score launches.
Rance is the other player who ranks highly in all those key categories for defenders, having been prolific for some time.
Terry Wallace was the coach of Richmond when the club drafted Rance in 2007, happy to take him as a first-round priority selection under the belief he would become a "12- to 14-year key defender".
Back then, his willingness to "put his body on the line" and his "competitor instincts" were his most endearing features, and Wallace said they were trademarks Rance had not lost even as he had morphed into an elite two-way player.
He still does the stuff that "doesn't necessarily come up on the stat sheet", although for the one per centers that are measured internally, Rance led the Tigers in 2014.
But more than that, it is the 25-year-old's offensive capabilities — not only saving goals but then re-starting chains that led to them at the other end — that Wallace sees as the major improvement in Rance's game, and the reason behind his rising reputation.
"His reading of the game, and his understanding of when to go and when to hold is where he has become a really important player," Wallace said.
More than the quantity of his possessions, is the quality that stands out now, too. There was a time, Wallace recalled, when Rance was too "gung-ho, bull-at-a-gate" for his own good, but this year he ranks No.1 among defenders for disposal efficiency, finding a target with 91 per cent of his touches, up from 80 per cent last year.
"He was one that could easily overrun the ball ... or bite off too much, trying to take on the opposition either by running or by transferring play," he said.
Wallace agreed with Riewoldt that a key factor for Rance in the "league's best defender debate" was his ability to blanket and bounce off players of all sizes, from "gorilla" forwards down.
His record on the best key forward in the game, Sydney superstar Lance Franklin, is outstanding and is one of several reasons why rival clubs, especially those from his home state of Western Australia and other top teams hoping to challenge Sydney and Franklin in the next few years would have huge interest in him.
Hardwick said on Monday that the club had "no doubt" Rance would re-sign, however reports late last week confirmed that the delay on his decision might not be purely football-related, as he is considered a player open to the idea of ending his career early – perhaps even next year - to pursue other interests such as travel.
Wallace said Rance would be a "massive loss" to the Tigers, a fact that was proven when he missed five games early last season.
"When you lose key defenders, it has a bigger impact than people recognise. I think they are the hardest players to replace," he said.
Wallace said he expected clubs to push hard for Rance with Godfather-style offers, but hoped for Richmond's sake that he stayed at Punt Road.
"They've got a group there all in the right age bracket ready to challenge in the next few years. When you get a group of guys in that position, you don't want to lose one of the key ones," said Wallace, who also played for the Tigers during his distinguished career.
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