RICHMOND identified Port Adelaide's opening-quarter weakness ahead of Saturday's encounter at AAMI Stadium and exploited it with devastating effect.

The Tigers haven't lost a first quarter this season and jumped the Power early before effectively putting them out of reach with five unanswered goals late in the term.

Power-turned-Richmond defender Troy Chaplin said the club spoke about his old team's sluggish starts and made it a focus to go after the young team early.

He said the key to the Tigers' fast starts in 2013 was mental attitude and planning.

"We just came switched on, our preparation all week and leading into the game was spot on," Chaplin said.

"We spoke about their starts [being] pretty poor so if we could jump them and get ahead … it does dent your confidence – it doesn't matter what sort of team you are, it's hard to come back from there."

However, Chaplin said the Power's ability to come from behind in 2013 remained a worry on Saturday.

Port has trailed at quarter-time in five of its seven games this year, but has five wins to its name.

The margin at half-time was 42 points and Chaplin said Richmond started the second half determined to keep the Power from mounting a fightback

"They've showed this year that they've been able to do it and we spoke about it, that 'these guys are going to come, we've got to be switched on'," he said.

"Their second halves have been fantastic and it did look a little bit jittery at times there but we were able to get a couple when we needed to."

Saturday's encounter was Chaplin's first against the club he played with for nine years and he admitted he was anxious in the lead up to the game; nervousness not helped by the consistent booing from a vocal Port Adelaide crowd whenever the ball was in his hands.

He gave Jay Schulz a love tap during the first quarter as the Power forward laid a shepherd but insisted he held no malice towards his old side – or Schulz for that matter.

"It's tough [to face them], I was extremely nervous before the game, I mean I spent nine years at Port Adelaide," he said.

"They gave me an opportunity and I hope I repaid them enough but at the end of the day I made a decision that I needed a change.

"Me and Schulzy are really good mates – my wife's one of his wife's bridesmaids – I'll speak to him tomorrow, there was a bit of banter out there but we kept it pretty quiet.

"I try not to get involved in that because you just lose focus … now I've got that first one out of the way I can move on."