Rance targeting return for AFL finals

By AAP Newswire

With an Olympic medallist and an AFL grand finalist as his shining lights, Richmond defender Alex Rance is back running and is determined to play this season if the Tigers make the finals.

The five-time All Australian, who suffered a knee injury in round one, says he's tracking well in his rehabilitation.

"There's no standard trajectory of how ACL's should go but I've been back running for about a week," he told SEN radio on Tuesday.

"I'm not at full pace but I've been doing a lot of foot work stuff and ladder work and I've got really good range and my strength is there.

"It's just a matter of pushing it to a point of pain and swelling and watching it come down and you can keep pushing on that way."

Rance said he had the same surgeon as former champion aerial skier Alisa Camplin and Tyson Goldsack, who suffered the same injury in the final game of pre-season and returned for Collingwood's charge to the 2018 grand final.

"I had exactly the same graft as Tyson Goldsack and he was back in 22 weeks and the same with Alisa Camplin, who was back in 16 weeks and won bronze at the Olympics so they are two good case studies for me to follow," the 29-year-old said.

"The swelling is the key because I've got the strength and the mobility."

Needing the eighth-placed Tigers to keep pace to give him a chance, Rance conceded that if he did make it back he wouldn't be "100 per cent ready".

But he hoped the risk would be worth the reward of adding another premiership to their 2017 title.

"It's worth a shot in my mind," he said.