Rance, who comes out of contract at the end of this season, is set to become one of the biggest free agency talking points of 2015 after reportedly putting off talks with Richmond until later in the year.

Making the club even more nervous would be the fact that in recent years the likes of Gary Ablett, Lance Franklin, Brendon Goddard, James Frawley and Tom Scully have all delayed negotiations in the final year of their respective deals before eventually joining a new club.

However, Chaplin said the Tigers would support whatever decision the reigning All-Australian centre half-back made about his future and remained hopeful that Rance would stay at Punt Road.

"It's a tough situation that Rancey is in, it's going to be talked about all year," Chaplin told SEN.

"There's always the risk that you're going to lose a player like that, but we've got full faith in Alex making the right decision.

"The more pressure that you put on them then the more it's going to affect their game. That's got nothing to do with us, that's Rancey's decision, we'll support him in whatever decision he makes.

"Hopefully he stays with the Tigers because he does know how important he is for us."