Demons great Garry Lyon has shed light on an a trade rumour surrounding retired Tigers star Alex Rance.
Lyon heard whispers early during the off-season of the five-time All-Australian making the move to Essendon.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Lyon is unsure of the legitimacy of the talk, stating it never gained any real traction.
โIt came across my desk within two days post Grand Final,โ Lyon said.
โI checked this out and I made a couple of calls and I didnโt get anything back which is normally sort of code for โthis is onโ.
โAlex Rance to Essendon was what I heard very early in the piece.
โI got all excited. I thought, โboy, Iโm on to something hereโ.
โThat would have been the biggest trade of the whole trade period.
โI followed up, I chased it up as hard as I could, but it went cold so I didnโt go with it.
โI kept hearing it and I rang a couple of people and normally they get back to me, but nothing.
โI did a bit of homework and it just went cold. I donโt know if it was ever a possibility but it was suggested to me that it was on, but not to be.โ
Former Essendon skipper Tim Watson said the link makes sense given former Tigers assistant Ben Rutten is now the Bombers' senior coach.
โI guess the reason you probably heard that and thought that there might be some legitimacy to it was the fact that Ben Rutten was his coach at Richmond for a period of time.โ
Tigers talent manager Blair Hartley told SENโs Dwayneโs World last week that he believed Rance would return to Richmond if he came out of retirement.
โWe miss him but heโs content with his decision and weโve just got to support him in that, as much as weโd love to have him,โ Hartley said.
โIโm very confident of that (heโd play for Richmond if he came back).
โLook, heโs not going to come back. Heโs made that pretty clear to us.
โHeโs comfortable with his position and weโve just to support him with that given the service heโs given to us over number of years.โ
Rance shocked the footy world when he hung up the boots at the end of 2019 to focus on his family and religion.
He played 200 games for Richmond and is a member of the club's 2017 premiership side.
