Key Richmond defender David Astbury is confident his star backline colleague Alex Rance will bounce back strongly in Thursday night’s big Round 2 clash with Collingwood at the MCG.
Rance, an All-Australian representative for the past three years and widely regarded as the competition’s best key defender, was the focus of some football media attention after having three goals kicked on him by rising Carlton star Jacob Weitering in the opening round.
“It’s amazing that someone who’s performed so strongly over two or three years, a couple of contests, gets a little bit of media,” Astbury said.
“But ‘Rancey’ is an unbelievable player, and it’s probably a credit to him the only reason people are looking at it is because he’s never really lost contests.
“I expect him to be back to his best this week.
“As we all know, he trains particularly hard. He’s always a standout on the track, a mentally resilient guy, and it’s not going to faze him one bit.”
