Richmond premiership star Alex Rance says he feels unhappy that former teammate Brett Deledio missed out on the club’s drought breaking premiership this year.
The now-GWS player spoke out of the “raw” feeling of missing out on the Tigers’ emphatic 2017 premiership this week, revealing that he had not watched a single minute of the game due to the fear that it would mentally affect him. Rance says that the Richmond life member’s words leaves him wishing that he was part of their Grand Final victory last month.
“I wish I played in a flag with him,” he told SEN’s The Run Home.
“A lot of my career was played with him. We slogged it out for a long period of time and that is potentially what burns him out a bit I guess.
“Being the number one man and the number one pick who was always relied upon, a multiple best and fairest, and then just said I couldn’t do it anymore.
“It’s sad that he couldn’t get the reward from a team perspective and yeah, it does make me unhappy to know that he missed out.”
The 30-year-old 2004 number one draft pick exited Richmond in the 2016 NAB AFL Trade Period, joining the Giants after 243 games in the yellow and black.
Despite the Giants being widely tipped to win the 2017 premiership, they were one of Richmond’s victims in September, stumbling to the eventual premiers by 36 points in a preliminary final.
The game at the MCG was also Deledio’s 250th AFL game.