Rance to play in two to three weeks — and go in harder
Andrea Petrie | May 11, 2009
YOUNG Richmond defender Alex Rance was recovering last night from surgery to insert plates and screws in his cheekbone, broken in a sickening clash of heads with Brisbane Lions' Troy Selwood on Saturday.
Rance's father, Murray, who played almost 100 games with Footscray and West Coast, said yesterday he and his wife Di were on the opposite side of the ground when the players collided during the third quarter at the MCG.
Alex, 19, was unconscious for several minutes before being taken to Epworth Hospital. Scans revealed three small fractures to his cheekbone.
"As soon as he went down, we knew he was out to it and I know my wife was pretty much beside herself, but we just got on our skates and got downstairs as quick as we could," Rance senior said yesterday.
"We met him on the way in and he was still pretty much out to it then."
He described seeing the incident as every parent's worst nightmare. "I've been knocked out a few times myself so you take it for granted a bit, but to see your son convulsing on the ground is pretty ordinary, so you know what a lot of parents are going through in that situation," he said.
"Two hard nuts, the Selwood head and the Rance head hitting, none of them were going to give an inch so it was pretty tough."
Rance said his son was likely to be playing again in about two or three weeks.
"A lot of people are saying a lot longer but I think Matthew Richardson's had a similar injury and he came back in a similar period of time," he said.
"I'm not suggesting that Alex has got Matthew's healing powers, but he's a pretty healthy kid and I wouldn't expect it to be much longer than that, subject to the operation going well today."
Rance said the injury was unlikely to make his son think twice about going in hard for the ball.
"He doesn't know what slowness means. I think they call him 'One-speed' here, so he's certainly hard at it and loves getting the hard ball, so that's just the way the boy plays. I didn't think anyone would want him to play any differently.
"They reckon the screws and plates will be better than it was before so there'll be no excuses, he'll go in harder next time I would hope."
Rance said that Alex was in good spirits.
"At the end of the day he's healthy. Bones repair, his brain's fine and he's having a laugh and a joke, so it's all good."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/rance-to-play-in-two-to-three-weeks/2009/05/10/1241893850157.html
