​Punters Tipping AFL Champ Alex Rance To Be This Year’s Bachelor

The odds have significantly shortened on former AFL premiership winner Alex Rance becoming Channel 10's leading man this year and fronting The Bachelor franchise.

The 32-year-old was part of the Richmond side which won the premiership in 2017, but retired from playing at the top level in 2019.

He has since gone on to a development role with rivals Essendon.

Fox Sports reported that Rance was leaving the role to focus on his business, The Academy, which runs education programs for students.

Sportsbet, however, has a different take, suggesting he could be about to chase romance (and TV fame) as this year's Bachelor.

Sportsbet's communications manager, Rich Hummerston, said the former Tiger was originally just an 'outside sniff' at $19.

Since being added to the market though, his price has come down to just $3 as more and more punters put their money behind the idea.

"We put Alex in the market purely on speculation and hence the big price," he said.

"We weren't expecting any bets on him, let alone seeing him best backed."

Way back in August 2020, Rance posted a video to Instagram with his face superimposed over that of then-Bachelor Locky Gilbert.

"This is the closest I'll ever get to being on The Bachelor," he said at the time.

Despite his years-old insistence he has no interest in being on the program, Rance now sits on par with ABC sports presenter Tony Armstrong as the odds-on favourite.

Armstrong has become a fan favourite for both his reporting and serious takes, as well as the occasional viral gaffe.

On ABC Breakfast in September, the presenter accidentally referred to cricketer Tim Paine's 'bulging dick' instead of 'bulging disc', which quickly sent the clip viral.

On a more serious note, he's been vocal about Australia's ongoing discrimination and racism against Indigenous Australians, saying the country 'still can't accept' that it's racist.

"You can't accept it's built off the back of slavery, it's built off the back of dispossession, it's built off the back of rape and pillage of Indigenous people," he said in August.

Others who are allegedly in the running to be 10's leading man include TV vet and presenter Dr Chris Brown ($4) - whose name seems to come up every year - as well as former Bachelorette competitors Todd King ($5) and Adam Todd ($8.50).

The Bachelor franchise's ratings have been in decline in recent years, with speculation the series needs a shake-up or a period of rest in order to generate audience interest again.

Channel 10

The 2018 season featuring former Wallaby Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins had an audience of 1.241 million across the five capital cities for its final moments, and 1.009 million for the main episode.

Last year's season, however, had just 629,000 metro viewers for the final moments and 578,000 for the lead up.

Sophie Monk has the ratings record across the wider franchise, boasting 1.640 million for her final decision in 2017 and 1.316 million for the episode.

Topics: afl, The Bachelor, News, TV, Australia