The taste temptations that come with two months of travelling through the United States have thankfully been avoided by star Richmond defender Alex Rance.

The professionalism and discipline of the dual All-Australian and 2015 Jack Dyer Medal recipient was evidently on display when he put in a strong showing in a time-trial around Princes Park last Monday morning and slotted back into skills training shortly after.

Summer twilight training session and free kids’ clinic set for Cardinia Shire

Speaking to Roar Vision at Punt Road Oval on Tuesday afternoon, the 26-year-old said he prepared stringently whilst away to have an immediate impact upon return.

“I naturally train pretty hard by myself, but there was that added incentive to come back (in good shape) because the club was good enough to be able to give me that break and I didn’t want to be running a rubbish time,” said Rance.

“For a lot of the pre-seasons that I’ve come back in, I’m pretty excited about this one.

“We seem to have picked up where we left off last year in terms of game style and we’ve got the cohesion back.

“We’re training really well and looking forward to some games.”

Rance, no stranger to developing his own game to an exceptional level, says he can already get a sense the playing group are driven to exceed last year’s level, a season which recorded the equal-most wins in a home and away season since 1982.

“We talk a lot internally about taking individually our games to the next level and as a group, so the thing that is really going to put us to the next level is our game-sense and knowing in-game how we can personally contribute to the team’s success,” said Rance.

“I can definitely see that everyone is really striving and pushing hard to increase their own standing amongst the group.”

Alex Rance at Richmond training on Wednesday morning