Rance Retirement

[Raoul Juke]

Why are you concerned about the timing of Alex's retirement??
Why would it affect the players ??

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

 

[Tiger71]

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

I have read both your posts and it screams chicken little mate. Yes the timing of Rance retirement was poor, only an idiot would say otherwise , but if you think Hardwick, Cotch , Jack, Gale etc did not know mid way through the year that Rance retiring was a likely chance, you have rocks in your head. Our admin is to elite to be blindside and our playing groups connection, which is real, would stop such a large decision not being shared. The club simply took a punt, allowing Alex all the time in the world to decide, just unfortunately, the decision was made after the draft, we punted and lost.

Also Ellis was deadset gone at the start of the year and there was no way we would pay him the same as GCS. The whole club wanted him to go, as we thought we would get a first round compo but more importantly, it would set his life up and we wanted that for him, it had ZERO to do with Rance. As to the gap Rance leaves, yes its a large one but you are dreaming if you think we could actually fill someone of his quality. We have some promising tall backs that play above the level in the VFL and now this is a great oppertunity for them to see what they have, the flip of the coin could very well be we find a kid, say Balta for example who excels as a back and using your logic, we owe that to Rance because he retired in the timing he did...how silly that ?

Now Im 47. I have lived through all the shit years but I am not as scared as you thinking our culture change as a side, which IMO harkens back till 2014 is a short term illusion and we will then plumet back to minnow town as you suggest but to also suggest that in some strange logic if that indeed happened, its Alex's fault ? Mate, that is crazy talk.

 

[amc11]

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

As hard as it may be for most supporters to fully comprehend that as much as individual players love the club, the game and their teammates, playing football is (just) a job to them. Rance has been in the same JOB for the past 12 years and has given the job his all to the detriment of other areas in his life. In my opinion as an observer, it looks to me as if he is burnt out, completely exhausted himself from an energetic perspective and far harder to bounce back from that compared to good old physical exhaustion. As far as I'm concerned Alex Rance owes it to himself and his family to put himself first and start giving the same commitment to his emotional well-being as he has given to his workplace for the past 12 years.

Not all players use their public social media profiles to the same degree. I thought Jack Riewoldt's tribute to his mate was beautifully sincere and touching. Jack also stayed in Australia over the holiday break. Trent Cotchin had already given a press conference. Dustin Martin rarely does public tribute posts and yet we know from Yellow & Black (2017) he sends a text message to the midfield group every game day. Dylan Grimes is overseas on his honeymoon, Dave Astbury and Dion Prestia no longer using instagram, Nick Vlaustin - overseas, Nathan Broad - overseas, Bachar Houli - overseas, Jayden Short is dealing with the more pressing issue of the passing away of his beloved father. The simple reality is the players themselves are far more aware of what is happening within the private lives of their teammates than we as supporters are and that is exactly as it should be.

Richmond, with the help of Alex Rance has been building an incredible culture and brotherhood, the bonds will not be broken regardless of what social media nay sayers would like you to believe. Out of adversity, opportunity presents, change is constant and ongoing plus life is way too short to be doing something which is causing such inner conflict and preventing you from being true to yourself and your convictions.

 

[Charlie Pannam]

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

Not denying Rances retirement will hurt but can’t agree with your assessment that winning this years GF without him was a “minor miracle “
Bottom line is with or without him we are the best team in the competition.
Our game style holds up and much like when Hawks lost Buddy and went onto win GFs we don’t rely on individuals.

 

[PetterdHoisted]

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

Agree it's bizarre that a player of Rance's standing would do this to the club a month after and not a month before list lodgement. For all the reasons you mention.

That's why I still think that either something catastrophic happened out of the blue, or that he will be back sometime in 2020.

 

[TigerImposter]

I reckon ive covered it, but read the below

but read below articles


Does this read like a playing group expecting him to retire?

Teammates rally around 'inspiration' Rance

Alex Rance’s teammates have hailed the champion defender's behind-the-scenes role in Richmond’s premiership success while sidelined with injury.

www.theage.com.au

Does this read like a coach planning on his $1 defender retiring in 60 days time?

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the return of Alex Rance is like getting the ‘No. 1 draft pick’

Like getting the No.1 pick: Why Tigers rivals should be worried

www.foxsports.com.au

The other issue here is, if Rance had done this earlier we might have drafted &traded differently. There is no way the club sits on its ass during trade period if they know Rance is not coming back in 2020. We all know they were interest in Zak Jones purely to add more expeirence to counter the loss of Ellis. What the heck does the loss of Rance too provide? Winning the flag without him was a minor miracle - no way the club would go into another season with the same problem. Lets be real - Tom Hawkins plays in the Prelim & we do not make the GF. Dont forget that. Now they have Jenkins & the Hawks have Patton. all our key opponents for 2020 have talls that can exploit us.

The other concern here is we lost Brandon Ellis. Now good ol Brandon has not been privvy to all the love & fuzzies Rance experienced from the Tiger fans - most had him as our #1 scapegoat after every loss (oh yes, i read & remember lol) - but he was a very very important player & probably just as important teammate to our less 'polished' players.like Short, Baker, Higs etc. He represented a different class of person to our team & I think that is very underplayed. We lost him Purely for money. he was not media savvy like Rance. he was not as interesting & unique as Rance. He certainly was not as pretty as Rance. But, he had been hear just as long & internally to some players, he was an amazing friend & teammate.

Losing them both concerns me for the effect it coul;d have on this group.

IF Rance goes in Oct, do we let Ellis go? I strongly doubt it. We sure dont match the GC offer, but i think we meet inbetween & he stays. Plus if Rance goes, do you think the afl screws up on that compo pick for him? Strongly doubt it. We would have gotten the 1st rounder for sure. The club know as well a i do - losing one of these guys is a disaster. Losing 2 experienced leaders in one hit, while your cap Cotch could also muster only 10 or so games himself..... If Cotch has the same issue this year, we will be toast.

If one of Grimes or astbury goes down, we are toast.

If I was a player, i reckon i'd be concerned & disappointed in how little care Rance took in the timing. Id be annoyed that Ellis had to leave to get paid, while Rance walked away with an even bigger pay cheque waiting for him. I just wish he had given us, plus himself, 1 more year. announce it now if he needs the commitment to retire to save his marriage or to show the commitment to his faith etc. I can handle him making a choice for himself & family - but doing it in a way that hurts his team both on & off the field - is not good enough. I dont care how nice a guy you are - i just expect a lot more from our vice captain no matter how zanny he might be or what god he may believe in.

I liked one of your earlier posts, but I’m sorry now as this post is filled with so many inaccuracies or ifs and but’s I’m now over your posting.
I will start with Brandon Ellis, sure enough he’s a dual premiership player, but in his own admission to close friends he knew he was going to struggle to be best 22 in the long term. Also we could’ve easily covered for him this year with at least six other players on much lower income. So to match GCS for an exorbitant contract they offered would be stupid and bad business practice.
Richmond losing to Geelong if Hawkins played is actually insulting not only to the club and players, but to the whole of the RFC stakeholders. The reality is we may have beat them by more if:
1. He actually played. Nobody will know the answer to this , but he was becoming a liability in the second half of the season.
2. Rance had been fit enough to play.
3. If Graham was able to play the game fully fit rather than running around resembling the Elephant Man. Also if Broad hadn’t suffered concussion or had Dusty been fully fit.
4. The umpires hadn’t blatantly cheated so much in the first half with disgusting free kicks. The Dangerfield one topping it off as it looked like it was almost rigged. I’m no umpire basher, but there were some concerns with that game and a few others during the season.
These are all ifs and buts and the bottom line is we beat their best 25 available on the day with our best 22 that were available

You then claim the club thought Rance was staying early on and you provide some loose evidence , yet contradict yourself by saying we should have allowed to trade in or pick someone else up or retain Ellis. The club may have or may have not known as we don’t know the full details, but imo I think it was a late and rushed decision by Rance in order to save his marriage and to please his wife. Either way the club has acted correctly and professionally by keeping him on the list simply bc he’s a contracted player and that he may have retired in haste. They probably have the vibes that he could come back as all of this was reactive and spirit of the moment decision making. Time and patience have often been a great panacea to poorly thought out, rushed or irrational decisions.
Whether or not the club were aware of his situation, they were never going to allow a player like Rance to just disappear into the wilderness as he was a contracted elite footballer.
I’m not even going to discuss extra marital affair rumours as that is exactly what they are unless someone can provide me with facts.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and try spending more of your time celebrating our 12th flag rather than wasting it racking up possibilities to why you believe Rance did the dirty on the RFC and that the club messed up with the handling of it.

Cheers
TI.

 

[roacheee]

cant wait for rance to come back

I want groupie to come back

 

[roacheee]

I know plenty of religious people who have practiced sex before mirage

It was just an illusion

 

[Dusty0004]

Agree it's bizarre that a player of Rance's standing would do this to the club a month after and not a month before list lodgement. For all the reasons you mention.

That's why I still think that either something catastrophic happened out of the blue, or that he will be back sometime in 2020.

something catastrophic like his marriage breaking down?

 

[roacheee]

Or he could create a politician with brains and common sense

But idiots wouldn't vote for them

 

[Raoul Juke]

I liked one of your earlier posts, but I’m sorry now as this post is filled with so many inaccuracies or ifs and but’s I’m now over your posting.
I will start with Brandon Ellis, sure enough he’s a dual premiership player, but in his own admission to close friends he knew he was going to struggle to be best 22 in the long term. Also we could’ve easily covered for him this year with at least six other players on much lower income. So to match GCS for an exorbitant contract they offered would be stupid and bad business practice.
Richmond losing to Geelong if Hawkins played is actually insulting not to the club and players only, but to the whole of the RFC stakeholders. The reality is we may have beat them by more if
1. He actually played. Nobody will know the answer to this , but he was becoming a liability in the second half of the season.
2. Rance had been fit enough to play.
3. If Graham was able to play the game fully fit rather than running around resembling the Elephant Man. Also if Broad hadn’t suffered concussion or had Dusty been fully fit.
4. The umpires hadn’t blatantly cheated so much in the first half with disgusting free kicks. The Dangerfield one topping it off as it looked like it was almost rigged. I’m no umpire badger, but there were some concerns with that game and a few others during the season.
These are all ifs and Buts and the bottom line is we beat their best 25 available on the day with our best 22 also available

You then claim the club thought Rance was staying early on and you provide some loose evidence , yet contradict yourself by saying we should have allowed to trade in or pick someone else up or retain Ellis. The club may have or may have not known as we don’t know the full details, but imo I think it was a late and rushed decision by Rance in order to save his marriage and please his wife. Either way the club has acted correctly and professionally by keeping him on the list simply bc he’s a contracted player and that he may have retired in haste. They probably have the vibes that he could come back as all of this was reactive and spirit of the moment decision making. Time and patience have often been a great panacea to poorly thought out, rushed or irrational decisions.
Whether or not the club were aware of his situation, they were never going to allow a player like Rance to just disappear into the wilderness as he was a contracted elite footballer.
I’m not even going to discuss extra marital affair rumours as that is exactly what they are unless someone can provide me with facts.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and spend more of your time celebrating our 12th flag rather than wasting it racking up possibilities to why Rance did the dirty on the RFC and that the club messed up with the handling of it.

Cheers
TI.

You know what I love about Big Footy? You can be discredited & totally dismissed for not posting here enough, while at the same time be told to "spend your xmas time better" when posting too much on an opinion no one else wants like or accept. My job over Xmas drops down to zero work and literally manning a emergency phone. I literally sit here all day in front of a computer with **** all to do, until about Feb. In that time, this is, to me, the perfect time to waste on talking crap on footy. Thanks for the life advice, however.

You are sure right - no one knows how that game plays out if Hawkins plays. Its a mystery. BUT, based on the game that did play out that night & how much they totally dominated us in the first half - especially with their forward entries and forward play - i think its not a stretch that if Hawkins lined up with that same game we all saw with our own 2 eyeballs -with Tom Hawkins there instead of Henderson - we were in deep shit. The first half played fairly similar to the Pies prelim the year before, but the biggest difference was where Mason Cox went off the leash - the Cats diodnt have a key tall do the same. The only other time we played them without Rance, they beat us by 90 points, so that is the only other point of reference. Fortunately we live in reality and this is all "what ifs". Reality is, we obviously won. But when planning for 2020, i think the club certainly banked on Rance being there. No team deadsmack in the middle of its Premiership window, would possibly go into a new season with such a obvious lack of depth in a position where you can ill afford it.

We have 3.5 tall backs on a list of 44+. Grimes, Astbury, Garthwaite & Noah Balta (i call a hallf as we all agree he plays better as fwd/ruck)

I honestly cant see how people can sit there and talk abour Rance being the greatest full back ever, yet don't want to admit that us losing him for nothing & replacing him with....nothing, is a bloody problem. He is either the greatest ever, or easily replaced by Garthwaite. Pick a side. I pick he is the greatest ever, having him was a immense advantage to our team & replacing him, even with 12 months notice is near impossible. To replace him with no notice and no alternatifve - it most definitely not an ideal situation for our team.

And trust me, i celebrated the win. I did that with my son. I dont really come here to just glow about the good times - i prefer to enjoy doing that with my son. But as he is 5, discussing list management is not his strong point, so until he gorws up, your gonna have to cover for him

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

something catastrophic like his marriage breaking down?

 

[TigerImposter]

You know what I love about Big Footy? You can be discredited & totally dismissed for not posting here enough, while at the same time be told to "spend your xmas time better" when posting too much on an opinion no one else wants like or accept. My job over Xmas drops down to zero work and literally manning a emergency phone. I literally sit here all day in front of a computer with fu** all to do, until about Feb. In that time, this is, to me, the perfect time to waste on talking crap on footy. Thanks for the life advice, however.

You are sure right - no one knows how that game plays out if Hawkins plays. Its a mystery. BUT, based on the game that did play out that night & how much they totally dominated us in the first half - especially with their forward entries and forward play - i think its not a stretch that if Hawkins lined up with that same game we all saw with our own 2 eyeballs -with Tom Hawkins there instead of Henderson - we were in deep shit. The first half played fairly similar to the Pies prelim the year before, but the biggest difference was where Mason Cox went off the leash - the Cats diodnt have a key tall do the same. The only other time we played them without Rance, they beat us by 90 points, so that is the only other point of reference. Fortunately we live in reality and this is all "what ifs". Reality is, we obviously won. But when planning for 2020, i think the club certainly banked on Rance being there. No team deadsmack in the middle of its Premiership window, would possibly go into a new season with such a obvious lack of depth in a position where you can ill afford it.

We have 3.5 tall backs on a list of 44+. Grimes, Astbury, Garthwaite & Noah Balta (i call a hallf as we all agree he plays better as fwd/ruck)

I honestly cant see how people can sit there and talk abour Rance being the greatest full back ever, yet don't want to admit that us losing him for nothing & replacing him with....nothing, is a bloody problem. He is either the greatest ever, or easily replaced by Garthwaite. Pick a side. I pick he is the greatest ever, having him was a immense advantage to our team & replacing him, even with 12 months notice is near impossible. To replace him with no notice and no alternatifve - it most definitely not an ideal situation for our team.

And trust me, i celebrated the win. I did that with my son. I dont really come here to just glow about the good times - i prefer to enjoy doing that with my son. But as he is 5, discussing list management is not his strong point, so until he gorws up, your gonna have to cover for him

I don’t mind people having opinions on here, but when they start contradicting themselves and bringing up innuendos I start to lose respect for them.
As for the 90 point loss with Rance it means absolutely nothing bc it appears he may have had some extra passengers on the day. Mute point as I can say we won a final in 2017 against Geelong by 51points with Rance present. The cats scored five goals for the entire game.

 

[Raoul Juke]

As hard as it may be for most supporters to fully comprehend that as much as individual players love the club, the game and their teammates, playing football is (just) a job to them. Rance has been in the same JOB for the past 12 years and has given the job his all to the detriment of other areas in his life. In my opinion as an observer, it looks to me as if he is burnt out, completely exhausted himself from an energetic perspective and far harder to bounce back from that compared to good old physical exhaustion. As far as I'm concerned Alex Rance owes it to himself and his family to put himself first and start giving the same commitment to his emotional well-being as he has given to his workplace for the past 12 years.

Not all players use their public social media profiles to the same degree. I thought Jack Riewoldt's tribute to his mate was beautifully sincere and touching. Jack also stayed in Australia over the holiday break. Trent Cotchin had already given a press conference. Dustin Martin rarely does public tribute posts and yet we know from Yellow & Black (2017) he sends a text message to the midfield group every game day. Dylan Grimes is overseas on his honeymoon, Dave Astbury and Dion Prestia no longer using instagram, Nick Vlaustin - overseas, Nathan Broad - overseas, Bachar Houli - overseas, Jayden Short is dealing with the more pressing issue of the passing away of his beloved father. The simple reality is the players themselves are far more aware of what is happening within the private lives of their teammates than we as supporters are and that is exactly as it should be.

Richmond, with the help of Alex Rance has been building an incredible culture and brotherhood, the bonds will not be broken regardless of what social media nay sayers would like you to believe. Out of adversity, opportunity presents, change is constant and ongoing plus life is way too short to be doing something which is causing such inner conflict and preventing you from being true to yourself and your convictions.

I care about as much about what is happening in the players private lives as they care about what is happening in ours. Reality is, not a whole lot, which is 100% normal for a sports fan. I dont carae a lot about his marriage, much like he wouldn't care much about mine. We both hope the other one is well, but quite honestly - its not that important to me when it comes to barracking for a footy team. I want wins, i want flags. People do not spend $1000 on memberships and GF tickets to see them and their wives have holidays to Machu Pichu , because no one cares to see it. I hope their lives are as beutiful and rich as everyones life deserves to be. I really cant be sitting around considering "will this make them happier in their private life" & i know 100% for sure, no Football GM cares too much about that when formulating a list. The job is clear, formulate the list & support them to stay and be their best. Do you think the Lions cared about the 5 go home boys reasons for deserting them? Or even Beams? nope. They felt sympathetic to them, but were very disappointed in their decisions & it totally screwed up the entire team for 5 years. End of the day they had a job to do and that is the primary goal.

Every player has a reason to do something selfishly for themselves, or choose to do the right thing to their team and teammates. Rance's retirement was the only time in his career where I felt he let us down. Reasons are clear as day. Not sure why everyone is being so sensitive, rest assured than even when Michael Jordan retired the first time, only 3 months after his own father was murdered, the reality was the entire nba world & chicago fans were really really really disappointed & there was not much "feel happy for him" juice flowing round. It was just all round disappoitnment and flatness. MJ's retirement is the only other one i can compare it to as i cant recall a peak age, peak level all time great just pulling the pin without warning, and clearly based on emotional/controversial reasons.

How that played out was, a year later MJ realised he still had the passion & came back for a few more flags. The passion was there but fortunately NBA players can come back physically a bit easier and play till a lot later age still at very high levels. AFL is not quite as easy to just come back to That is the flip side to this - where you all say "support his choice" - i say "you are making a terrible mistake & will regret it". I think Rance's decisiojn almosat certainly looks to have been made due to some personal chaos in his current life and that the club thinks him leaving will not be in his best interest. Thats why they aer keeping him on the list, just in case one its resolved, Rance has a change of heart. That to me, is the reaction of a team a bit in denial or not fully on board with his decision. Even Jacks comment clearly states he does not "fully understand".

If Jack does not fully udnerstand, then how the F are we meant to take it other than be the same? Rances call seems emotivie and spotanaeous. The execution of the retirement seemed rushed and not thought out, nor planned. If that is in fact true, then the timing hurts us as we cannot draft or trade to compensate for his loss & the situation already has us in the same situation we were in after round 1 - one of the top 3 talented players on our list wont be playing a ****ing game in 2020. That clearly 'hurts' your team.

He should have retired after the GF and before the trade period. He reckons he waited to make sure his "knee was right" before he retired as he didnt want to make the decision to retire based on his health situaion. That is in his own words...

Think about that for a second. In Rances own words, he wanted to wait to get the all clear from his DR BEFORE deciding to retire, he didn;t want to retire if he thought he was making the decision due to poor health. This means he basically waited for The Dr's word which came AFTER the trade period to make the decision he clearly wanted to make already. WTF is with that? Does that make ANY sense to anyone, that Rance might have been more likely to stay IF his knee was not right, than it being 'perfect'? I don't get it & i doubt you do either. Effectively he was saying he was more likely to not retire is his knee was shit. How does that help his team??? If he wanted to retire, what his Dr said about it should mean SFA. Just retire mate and do it at the time when your team can still rebuild around your absence.

The explanations given dont add up & the other chaos surrounding his life - be it wife or JW stuff - all equates to.... a story.

 

[Raoul Juke]

I don’t mind people having opinions on here, but when they start contradicting themselves and bringing up innuendos I start to lose respect for them.
As for the 90 point loss with Rance it means absolutely nothing bc it appears he may have had some extra passengers on the day. Mute point as I can say we won a final in 2017 against Geelong by 51points with Rance present. The cats scored five goals for the entire game.

....in 2017. talk about using a contradiction. You just said my summary of "if hawkins played" in 2019 the result might have been different as meaning "innuendo". then used a game that was played 2 years prior as an example of how we won really well with Rance.

Comparing the cats 2017 team to their 2019 is even more pointless than me saying Hawkins playing would have possibly meant we lost the Prelim, lol. nice try. Very different teams on both sides 2017 vs 2019.

I honestly dont understand how anyone cannot watch the Prelim and think "man, if Hawkins played we would have struggled to get over them". The match up difference there is huge. Lachie Henderson vs Tom Hawkins. Of course the Cats are a better team with Hawkins!

 

[TigerImposter]

....in 2017. talk about using a contradiction. You just said my summary of "if hawkins played" in 2019 the result might have been different. then used a game that was played 2 years prior as an example of how we won really well with Rance.

Comparing the cats 2017 team to their 2019 is even more pointless than me saying Hawkins playing would have possibly meant we lost the Prelim, lol. nice try.

lol get off the keyboards please as I was pointing out how ridiculous your 90 point argument was. The Geelong 2017 side was a half game worst off in the end than the 19 side. You’re now just playing the devils advocate and I’m moving away from your trolling.You've now poopoohed both of our premierships and I’ve had enough.

 

[guruisatiger]

I have read both your posts and it screams chicken little mate. Yes the timing of Rance retirement was poor, only an idiot would say otherwise , but if you think Hardwick, Cotch , Jack, Gale etc did not know mid way through the year that Rance retiring was a likely chance, you have rocks in your head. Our admin is to elite to be blindside and our playing groups connection, which is real, would stop such a large decision not being shared. The club simply took a punt, allowing Alex all the time in the world to decide, just unfortunately, the decision was made after the draft, we punted and lost.

Also Ellis was deadset gone at the start of the year and there was no way we would pay him the same as GCS. The whole club wanted him to go, as we thought we would get a first round compo but more importantly, it would set his life up and we wanted that for him, it had ZERO to do with Rance. As to the gap Rance leaves, yes its a large one but you are dreaming if you think we could actually fill someone of his quality. We have some promising tall backs that play above the level in the VFL and now this is a great oppertunity for them to see what they have, the flip of the coin could very well be we find a kid, say Balta for example who excels as a back and using your logic, we owe that to Rance because he retired in the timing he did...how silly that ?

Now Im 47. I have lived through all the shit years but I am not as scared as you thinking our culture change as a side, which IMO harkens back till 2014 is a short term illusion and we will then plumet back to minnow town as you suggest but to also suggest that in some strange logic if that indeed happened, its Alex's fault ? Mate, that is crazy talk.

Well said spot on

 

[Ocker]

I care about as much about what is happening in the players private lives as they care about what is happening in ours. Reality is, not a whole lot, which is 100% normal for a sports fan. I dont carae a lot about his marriage, much like he wouldn't care much about mine. We both hope the other one is well, but quite honestly - its not that important to me when it comes to barracking for a footy team. I want wins, i want flags. People do not spend $1000 on memberships and GF tickets to see them and their wives have holidays to Machu Pichu , because no one cares to see it. I hope their lives are as beutiful and rich as everyones life deserves to be. I really cant be sitting around considering "will this make them happier in their private life" & i know 100% for sure, no Football GM cares too much about that when formulating a list. The job is clear, formulate the list & support them to stay and be their best. Do you think the Lions cared about the 5 go home boys reasons for deserting them? Or even Beams? nope. They felt sympathetic to them, but were very disappointed in their decisions & it totally screwed up the entire team for 5 years. End of the day they had a job to do and that is the primary goal.

Every player has a reason to do something selfishly for themselves, or choose to do the right thing to their team and teammates. Rance's retirement was the only time in his career where I felt he let us down. Reasons are clear as day. Not sure why everyone is being so sensitive, rest assured than even when Michael Jordan retired the first time, only 3 months after his own father was murdered, the reality was the entire nba world & chicago fans were really really really disappointed & there was not much "feel happy for him" juice flowing round. It was just all round disappoitnment and flatness. MJ's retirement is the only other one i can compare it to as i cant recall a peak age, peak level all time great just pulling the pin without warning, and clearly based on emotional/controversial reasons.

How that played out was, a year later MJ realised he still had the passion & came back for a few more flags. The passion was there but fortunately NBA players can come back physically a bit easier and play till a lot later age still at very high levels. AFL is not quite as easy to just come back to That is the flip side to this - where you all say "support his choice" - i say "you are making a terrible mistake & will regret it". I think Rance's decisiojn almosat certainly looks to have been made due to some personal chaos in his current life and that the club thinks him leaving will not be in his best interest. Thats why they aer keeping him on the list, just in case one its resolved, Rance has a change of heart. That to me, is the reaction of a team a bit in denial or not fully on board with his decision. Even Jacks comment clearly states he does not "fully understand".

If Jack does not fully udnerstand, then how the F are we meant to take it other than be the same? Rances call seems emotivie and spotanaeous. The execution of the retirement seemed rushed and not thought out, nor planned. If that is in fact true, then the timing hurts us as we cannot draft or trade to compensate for his loss & the situation already has us in the same situation we were in after round 1 - one of the top 3 talented players on our list wont be playing a ******* game in 2020. That clearly 'hurts' your team.

He should have retired after the GF and before the trade period. He reckons he waited to make sure his "knee was right" before he retired as he didnt want to make the decision to retire based on his health situaion. That is in his own words...

Think about that for a second. In Rances own words, he wanted to wait to get the all clear from his DR BEFORE deciding to retire, he didn;t want to retire if he thought he was making the decision due to poor health. This means he basically waited for The Dr's word which came AFTER the trade period to make the decision he clearly wanted to make already. WTF is with that? Does that make ANY sense to anyone, that Rance might have been more likely to stay IF his knee was not right, than it being 'perfect'? I don't get it & i doubt you do either. Effectively he was saying he was more likely to not retire is his knee was shit. How does that help his team??? If he wanted to retire, what his Dr said about it should mean SFA. Just retire mate and do it at the time when your team can still rebuild around your absence.

The explanations given dont add up & the other chaos surrounding his life - be it wife or JW stuff - all equates to.... a story.

FMD I wish I had the time to do mega essays too...

 

[SunshineBoy]

FMD I wish I had the time to do mega essays too...

On an iPhone

 

[Dusty0004]

On an iPhone

more then a couple of paragraphs I can’t be ****ed reading them.

 

[PetterdHoisted]

something catastrophic like his marriage breaking down?

Could be, but marriage breakdowns are usually more of a slow burn unless something scandalous was uncovered suddenly.

No, my money is on Rance coming back in 2020.

 

[PetterdHoisted]

....in 2017. talk about using a contradiction. You just said my summary of "if hawkins played" in 2019 the result might have been different as meaning "innuendo". then used a game that was played 2 years prior as an example of how we won really well with Rance.

Comparing the cats 2017 team to their 2019 is even more pointless than me saying Hawkins playing would have possibly meant we lost the Prelim, lol. nice try. Very different teams on both sides 2017 vs 2019.

I honestly dont understand how anyone cannot watch the Prelim and think "man, if Hawkins played we would have struggled to get over them". The match up difference there is huge. Lachie Henderson vs Tom Hawkins. Of course the Cats are a better team with Hawkins!

Especially when Hendo fumbles a certain cats goal over the line which would have got them within 2 goals with 3 min to play.

Thank god for Hendo bringing Carlton to Geelong

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Could be, but marriage breakdowns are usually more of a slow burn unless something scandalous was uncovered suddenly.

No, my money is on Rance coming back in 2020.

 

[Dusty0004]

Could be, but marriage breakdowns are usually more of a slow burn unless something scandalous was uncovered suddenly.

No, my money is on Rance coming back in 2020.

Could be, but marriage breakdowns are usually more of a slow burn unless something scandalous was uncovered suddenly.

No, my money is on Rance coming back in 2020.

Not right at all. They can be a slow burn agreed but nothing scandalous needs to happen to bring it to ahead.
By Rances own admission he puts everything into his footy and was fastidious in his recovery from the knee.
nothing scandalous needs to happen it may have been an ultimatum. It may have been that she didn’t want to go through another year of having an absent husband.
Who knows but to assume their is something scandalous to bring it to a head gets me thinking some people read to much Woman’s Weekly and New idea.
I’d have no hesitations in leaving my job if it was to help save my marriage. Family always comes first.

 

[TigerImposter]

FMD I wish I had the time to do mega essays too...

He’s like a rampant bushfire as he steals oxygen from the innocent surroundings to run amok. Give him no more as he needs to extinguish by his own means.