Richmond defender Alex Rance is making remarkable progress on the road to recovering from a round one ACL, but the Tigers are set to play it safe in his return.

Earlier this week, Damien Hardwick admitted Rance was recovering at breakneck speeds, with the Tigers to consider bringing him back early, in a bid to contend for another premiership.

However, according to the Herald Sun, medical experts such as Dr Peter Larkins have warned that ACL's are at their weakest at around 25 weeks, which would be when Rance would be eyeing off a return.

Tigers football boss Neil Balme spoke on Tuesday about Rance's chances of returning, and while the star defender wants to make a return this season, Balme says the call will be made by the medical staff.

“The medicos will talk to his surgeon and really it will be a question of the risk if he plays as opposed to the risk of him playing next year and if there is any significant difference he won’t be playing,” Balme said.

“That’s only my opinion and we don’t want to put it out of the question because he needs to strive for something.”