Incoming Leadership Consultant Alex Rance says he’ll be looking to pass on some of the key learnings from his own esteemed playing career in his new role with the GC SUNS.
Rance will work in the football department at the SUNS as a Leadership Consultant while also representing the club’s newest neckline partner, LOOP Logics, as an ambassador.
Rance, a five-time All-Australian and premiership player, says his role will be about building upon and developing the assets already in place on the Gold Coast.
“I have some good experience from my time at Richmond and I think I can pass that knowledge onto the SUNS team,” Rance said.
“We also have some good assets at the SUNS where I’ll be able to almost translate the science into a practical application in a culture, leadership and mental wellbeing space.”
Rance’s 200-game, 11-year career all came under the one mentor – new GC SUNS Senior Coach Damien Hardwick.
It’s the experiences along the journey as a player over 11 years at the Tigers that Rance will use as a key tool in his role.
“As a player, the mental side I feel is the majority of the battle. It’s not a matter of skill or athletic ability, it’s a matter of how players can apply it to benefit themselves and the team,” Rance said.
“They have the endurance, speed, power and skills that they need. It’s all about aligning all that up and getting it ready to role.
“That’s one thing Dimma is really good at, it’s ‘this is what I need your role to do, to service us as a team’.
“I experienced that journey myself. Once that mental side came in, once I knew my identity and where I could benefit the team, things started to roll.
“It’s cool to now be an outsider looking into that playing group and seeing how I can support and really help generate that internal hype and process.
“It’s very much about a narrowing of focus as to what’s important and what’s not?”
Rance will spend time at the club in a part-time capacity, focusing on optimising mental performance.
“The start of the week will be a bit of ‘what happened on the weekend?’ so we can flush the mind out,” Rance added.
“The thing about mental performance is we don’t want to hold on too much, be it the negatives or positives. Sometimes it can be a little bit boring that process because don’t get to live in the wins or successes for too long.
“But, at the end of the day, what we’re working towards is that September period.”
“That transitions to mental preparation at the end of the week.”
