Richmond coach Adem Yze has gone in to bat for Tim Taranto, declaring he couldn't care less how others rank his midfielder.
Taranto, 27, has faced criticism after he was limited to 17 disposals in the Round 2 loss to Port Adelaide.
"Our players are gonna get criticism left, right and centre – so it's just how much you want to take in," Yze said.
"What we do know is Tim's an amazing player, a strong leader around our footy club and when he plays well, we're in most games.
"You saw that in round one, he got coaches' votes, he was a really important player to us and one of the main reasons why we win that game against Carlton.
"I think if you ask Carlton, they'd be saying that he's a pretty important player.
"So all the outside noise, we just try and block it out and help him with that. But that's always going to be there. But we know how much we love him and how good of a player he is."
The second-year coach also vowed to support Taranto ahead of their Round 3 clash against the Saints, with hopes they can replicate efforts from the Round 1 win.
"He's a great teammate. He's tough, and he's a vice-captain for a reason, so he knows that we'll just wrap our arms around him and make sure we help him with blocking out that noise," he said.
Yze also won't curb returning spearhead Tom Lynch's aggression after his one-match ban for a high bump on Carlton's Tom De Koning.
"It's a brutal game, and he plays his best footy when he's in that mode. And our players play and grow around him when he does that," Yze said.
"There's always that fine line and we've got to protect the head, and there's a technique issue in the way – he's a big man, so most times when he goes to bump, he's probably going to hit him in the head, unless it's Aaron Sandilands.
"We're never going to temper that. We expect that our big boys play big and play combative, and that's what he brings.
"We don't want to lose him too often. He's just got to pick his time and his mark. But we don't want to take that aggression away from him."
Richmond take on St Kilda on Saturday from 4.15pm at Marvel Stadium.
