{"id":104034,"date":"2021-07-23T02:13:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T02:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=104034"},"modified":"2021-07-23T04:58:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T04:58:54","slug":"wrong-sash-hardwick-reacts-to-rance-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=104034","title":{"rendered":"'Wrong sash!': Hardwick reacts to Rance comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has responded to reports former Tigers star Alex Rance<\/a> is considering a comeback.<\/p>\n

News Corp claimed Rance was considering making his return to footy in the VFL this Sunday for Essendon's reserve team.<\/p>\n

Rance has reportedly been in talks with the Bombers on developing the side's younger players.<\/p>\n

On Friday morning during the Tigers' press conference, Hardwick was not pleased to hear the news.<\/p>\n

"Wrong sash Alex, what's he doing!" Hardwick joked.<\/p>\n

"Alex is a guy that just loves playing the game.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"He'll probably enjoy the game, it will be interesting to see how he goes \u2013 he hasn't played for an extended period, but he's one of the greatest players I've ever seen play the game so hopefully he goes okay.<\/p>\n

"I'd just prefer it was in our colours, not so much Essendon's!"<\/p>\n

Rance has not played a game of AFL since the first round of the 2019 season when he tragically tore his ACL, ruling him out of their Premiership-winning season.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old chose to announce his retirement before the 2020 season but right up until he hung up the boots there was speculation<\/a> he may make a footy comeback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I haven't chatted to him for some time. I'm not sure (whether he could return)," Hardwick said.<\/p>\n

"He's one of the more athletically gifted players I've ever seen.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"If there's ever somebody who could comeback after a three-year layoff, it might be Alex. I'm not too sure what his mindset is.<\/p>\n

"Has he had some time to freshen up? Once again I'm not too sure, but I'll back Alex in whichever way he goes to be honest.<\/p>\n

"He's such an incredible player and I think we'd all agree that he retired early, but we understand his reasonings behind that.<\/p>\n

"If he came back to the game it would be a good thing, the game would be better for it, I think.<\/p>\n

"The challenge is set for him and we'll see how he goes on the weekend."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has responded to reports former Tigers star Alex Rance is considering a comeback. News Corp claimed Rance was considering making his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104034"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104036,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104034\/revisions\/104036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}