Star Richmond key defender Alex Rance was rewarded for his outstanding display in last Saturday’s match against Sydney at the MCG with a ‘perfect score’ in the AFL Coaches Association’s Round 13 Player of the Year votes.
Rance received the maximum 10 votes from respective coaches Damien Hardwick (Richmond) and John Longmire (Sydney) after finishing the match with 21 disposals, an equal game-high 12 intercepts, five marks, four rebound-50s and 10 one-percenters.
He solidified his standing as the competition’s best key defender, providing a one-on-one master class in his match-up with star Swans spearhead Lance Franklin, who he restricted to just one goal.
Quality rebounding backman Bachar Houli was the only other Tiger player to poll coaches’ votes in Round 13.
Houli picked up two votes for his impressive performance – an equal team-high 28 disposals, seven rebound-50s, six marks, six tackles, four intercepts and a team-high 424 metres gained.
Full voting details for the Round 13 Richmond v Sydney match are . . .
10 – Alex Rance (Richmond)
6 – Nic Newman (Sydney)
4 – Jake Lloyd (Sydney)
3 – Isaac Heeney (Sydney)
3 – Tom Papley (Sydney)
2 – Bachar Houli (Richmond)
2 – Zak Jones (Sydney)
