A remorseful Alex Rance hopes his "completely out of character" hit on Melbourne's Jack Watts will not define him for the rest of his career.

The Richmond defender accepted a two-match suspension on Tuesday for his crude elbow to the back of Watts' head while the Melbourne utility was lying face down on Sunday night at the MCG.

Rance described it as a "stupid, emotional act".

"It's certainly something that I don't want to be remembered for," Rance said at Punt Road Oval on Tuesday.

"It's something that I can't take back. Once it's out there, it's going to be out there for good.

"Often things like that stick, so I'm absolutely remorseful for what I did and very frustrated at myself because I know I've let my teammates down. I should be more professional than that."

The dual All-Australian put his actions down to a "build-up of things" and stressed it went against his "moral fibre".

"I'd like to think that I've got good values," Rance said. "I'm really frustrated at myself at succumbing to that emotion and frustration of the moment.

"It's hard to put [a finger on] exactly when and why you snap at different occasions. "It's definitely on no one but myself. I do put a lot of pressure on myself to perform at a high standard.

"I probably should have done better in that contest [against Watts] and I let myself down."

Rance said his strike on Watts came at a poor time given the recent spate of one-punch attacks in the wider community and he hopes he isn't viewed as a "thug".

"It's hard when one action can almost define you and I'm really at [the media's] mercy, the way you guys want to portray me," he said. "I really want to get that message across that it's so not me and it does hurt that I've put that perception out there."

Rance, a Jehovah's Witness, said his action went against his faith and he was the lowest he had felt emotionally for a long time.

"I've had some pretty low points in my career but from a perspective of knowing better and knowing the person that I want to be and the person that I want to portray, absolutely it's a pretty low emotional time."

"It's just about going about my life now and rebuilding that trust."

Rance has apologised to Watts via text message, which has been accepted, and apologised to his teammates.

The key backman's two-game suspension couldn't have come at a worse time for Richmond, who are floundering in 14th position on the ladder at 1-4.

But Rance isn't concerned his ban will cost the Tigers victory in the next two weeks and has faith in Troy Chaplin and David Astbury to hold the fort.

"As a group, we really believe in a system we've got going and so you lose a soldier, you replace with another one," Rance said.

"I don't have any fears that just because of me not playing that we're not going to be able to get the win in the next couple of games.

"I think we're actually in pretty good nick."