RICHMOND key defender Alex Rance never thought he would have to deal with being tagged, and admits the close attention opposition forwards have paid him in recent weeks has been hard to adjust to.

Rance has been the competition's premier key defender in recent years, winning All Australian selection the past three seasons.

The Tiger has risen to that status on the back of outstanding one-on-one defending – he leads the competition in one-percenters this season – but opposition teams are especially wary of his ability to hurt them on the counter-attack.

An excellent intercept mark, Rance also starts more Tiger attacks than any other defender; he led Richmond for rebound 50s in 2016, and leads the club again this season.

Port Adelaide sent Jackson Trengove to Rance in round 15, and the close-checking Power utility kept him to an usually low seven possessions in the first half before Rance got off the chain after half-time and rediscovered his trademark counter-attack.

The following week, St Kilda played Nick Riewoldt on Rance. The Saints great was best on ground, taking 12 marks and kicking 3.2 while holding Rance to a lowly 11 disposals.

Rance told SEN radio on Friday morning he was still adjusting to the new-found attention from opposition forwards.

"At the end of the day I've got to be a defender, so if that means they're taking me out of the play and they're out of the play they're a forward down too, so it's something new that I've got to deal with," Rance said.

"It was difficult early because it's something I've never had to deal with before, and I didn't probably ever think I'd have to deal with it in my footy career.

"It's probably only been two games that it's happened. Port Adelaide was a really serious one, that was really disruptive, and then Nick Riewoldt probably played it a bit smarter. He knows when to peel off and go for his marks.

"It's a really hard one as a key defender, especially because you feel like all your rights are really taken from you. You can't get the ball on offence and you can't get the ball on defence, so you're sort of standing there being a bit of a landmark."