Round 1 - The new, the old and the who?

[valleys07]

Scans have confirmed that Richmond defender, Alex Rance has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in last night’s 33-point win over Carlton, and will miss the remainder of the 2019 season.

Rance suffered the injury during a marking contest in the third quarter of the game.

Rance, 29, will consult with a surgeon today and is expected to have surgery to repair the damage in the coming days.

“We’re really disappointed for Alex that he’ll spend an extended period of time out of the game, he’s a wonderful player and fantastic leader of our team,” Richmond General Manager – Football, Neil Balme said.

“Alex, to his credit, has been incredibly positive since the injury occurred, and we’ll continue to rally around him in the coming days and throughout his rehab process.

“While we’ll miss his on-field contribution this season, we know he’ll apply the same dedication and discipline to his rehab and recovery, and we will continue to provide our ongoing support to him.”

I cant see this hurting Richmond's defensive structure much at all, TBH. Massively overrated is Rance. An elite intercept player by CD's rankings, but is horrible when defending one on one, and he is costly on the turnover following his intercepts anyway.

Ryan Garthwaite is Richmond's next best defensive intercept option. Whilst Ryan is a better spoiler than marker, and doesnt win much of his own footy, itll just require small rebounding defenders such as Short, Vlastuin, Houli to create more rebound.

Could trial something and perhaps look at the athletic Noah Balta in a key defensive post. He looked a bit at sea last night as the 3rd tall behind Riewoldt and Lynch, and Carlton looked very good at times on the defensive 50 transition, Richmond lacking that ground ball pace that made them so formidable in 2017.

[Jim05]

Good crowd and I suspect even better TV ratings.
Most clubs would be envious of that!

Unfortunately it was Carlton’s home game which shaved a few of the crowd numbers

[emoji15]

That wasn’t a dig at Carlton it’s just how it is when Richmond have nearly 100k members. Many can’t get in on their tickets and refuse to pay the additional fee for reserving seats. I have no doubt a Richmond home game would have got 90k plus last night

[Lightning McQueen]

I cant see this hurting Richmond's defensive structure much at all, TBH. Massively overrated is Rance. An elite intercept player by CD's rankings, but is horrible when defending one on one, and he is costly on the turnover following his intercepts anyway.

Ryan Garthwaite is Richmond's next best defensive intercept option. Whilst Ryan is a better spoiler than marker, and doesnt win much of his own footy, itll just require small rebounding defenders such as Short, Vlastuin, Houli to create more rebound.

Could trial something and perhaps look at the athletic Noah Balta in a key defensive post. He looked a bit at sea last night as the 3rd tall behind Riewoldt and Lynch, and Carlton looked very good at times on the defensive 50 transition, Richmond lacking that ground ball pace that made them so formidable in 2017.

I can't agree with you there, the work he does back there that we don't see is phenomenal, his ability to read the play and leave his opponent is as good as anyone that has played.

[Spargo]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

[Booney]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

He's not over rated in today's game, when he's discussed in terms of all time greats I think he may be a little higher than he should be, but he is, without question, one of today's most reliable key defenders.

[valleys07]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

And I am not sure selection in those teams is completely warranted.

A reliable player is Rance, but for the system that Richmond play, he is replaceable.

[helicopterking]

I cant see this hurting Richmond's defensive structure much at all, TBH. Massively overrated is Rance. An elite intercept player by CD's rankings, but is horrible when defending one on one, and he is costly on the turnover following his intercepts anyway.

Ryan Garthwaite is Richmond's next best defensive intercept option. Whilst Ryan is a better spoiler than marker, and doesnt win much of his own footy, itll just require small rebounding defenders such as Short, Vlastuin, Houli to create more rebound.

Could trial something and perhaps look at the athletic Noah Balta in a key defensive post. He looked a bit at sea last night as the 3rd tall behind Riewoldt and Lynch, and Carlton looked very good at times on the defensive 50 transition, Richmond lacking that ground ball pace that made them so formidable in 2017.

I can't agree with you there, the work he does back there that we don't see is phenomenal, his ability to read the play and leave his opponent is as good as anyone that has played.

Huge Loss. No replacement for his ball reading ability.
We will get to see just how good Grimes and Astbury really are without Rance coming over the top to help out.

[woodublieve12]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

And I am not sure selection in those teams is completely warranted.

A reliable player is Rance, but for the system that Richmond play, he is replaceable.

He gives the best forward of the modern era a bath on a regular basis... He's the best key defender in the game

[Lightning McQueen]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

And I am not sure selection in those teams is completely warranted.

A reliable player is Rance, but for the system that Richmond play, he is replaceable.

He is Richmond's most important player IMO, they can cover anyone else, not him. Dusty is their best player but between Edwards, Cotchin, Higgins, Riewoldt, Lambert, Caddy, Houli and Graham, they can all do their bit to cover him, they can't do that for Rance though.

[Bum Crack]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

And I am not sure selection in those teams is completely warranted.

A reliable player is Rance, but for the system that Richmond play, he is replaceable.

He gives the best forward of the modern era a bath on a regular basis... He's the best key defender in the game

Tom Lonergan gave him bigger baths

[Jim05]

Rance is the only player in the league to be All Australian the last five consecutive years.
He ain’t overrated.

And knowing the selectors he will still get in there this year!
Some players *cough* Joel Selwood are selected before the season even starts

[JK]

Sort of agree with you Valleys. I don't think he's anything special one on one, but his style fits with Richmonds perfectly and makes him probably their 2nd most important player. History will rate him more highly than I do (imo a very good but not great player - I'd have Scarlett ahead of him every day of the week). Pretty big loss for the Tiges.

[saintal]

Former Rooster Callum Wilkie to debut for St Kilda.

[Bandit]

Rance 5x AA based on his work as a loose man in defence, its the rest of the team that allows him to play that way. He's a good player but nothing on the genuine backmen winning 1 on 1 contests, but that era is going by.

[valleys07]

Sort of agree with you Valleys. I don't think he's anything special one on one, but his style fits with Richmonds perfectly and makes him probably their 2nd most important player. History will rate him more highly than I do (imo a very good but not great player - I'd have Scarlett ahead of him every day of the week). Pretty big loss for the Tiges.

My point being that good sides are the sum of its parts.

Recently, we have seen 2 sporting teams in completely different leagues (West Coast and the Philadelphia Eagles) win championships, despite losing some pretty important cogs during their campaign.

It'll be very interesting to see a) how Hardwick and his coaching team replace Rance. Will they opt for Garthwaite, or experiment with the untried but extremely athletic Balta?, and b) how Richmond's defensive unit reacts to Rance's absence.

[Bandit]

Saw some news about Jones bump on Riewoldt deserving a week! What a joke. Is the AFL expecting Jones to just follow him around all game and be happy they are losing while Riewoldt is taking hangers? Its a mans game and you need to be able to exert some physical presence now and then. Didnt get him high so play on in my book.

[amber_fluid]

Saw some news about Jones bump on Riewoldt deserving a week! What a joke. Is the AFL expecting Jones to just follow him around all game and be happy they are losing while Riewoldt is taking hangers? Its a mans game and you need to be able to exert some physical presence now and then. Didnt get him high so play on in my book.

AFLW is more of a man’s game now than what the AFL is.
Seen harder hits in netball.

[MW]

Saw some news about Jones bump on Riewoldt deserving a week! What a joke. Is the AFL expecting Jones to just follow him around all game and be happy they are losing while Riewoldt is taking hangers? Its a mans game and you need to be able to exert some physical presence now and then. Didnt get him high so play on in my book.

AFLW is more of a man’s game now than what the AFL is.
Seen harder hits in netball.

Turn it up you two. He swung an arm into his stomach/chest while he was not looking 20m off the ball. Nothing tough in that. Deserves a week.

[amber_fluid]

Saw some news about Jones bump on Riewoldt deserving a week! What a joke. Is the AFL expecting Jones to just follow him around all game and be happy they are losing while Riewoldt is taking hangers? Its a mans game and you need to be able to exert some physical presence now and then. Didnt get him high so play on in my book.

AFLW is more of a man’s game now than what the AFL is.
Seen harder hits in netball.

Turn it up you two. He swung an arm into his stomach/chest while he was not looking 20m off the ball. Nothing tough in that. Deserves a week.

Hope he doesn’t have a tummy ache

[Jim05]

Saw some news about Jones bump on Riewoldt deserving a week! What a joke. Is the AFL expecting Jones to just follow him around all game and be happy they are losing while Riewoldt is taking hangers? Its a mans game and you need to be able to exert some physical presence now and then. Didnt get him high so play on in my book.

AFLW is more of a man’s game now than what the AFL is.
Seen harder hits in netball.

Turn it up you two. He swung an arm into his stomach/chest while he was not looking 20m off the ball. Nothing tough in that. Deserves a week.

Lol. Nothing wrong with it