Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt will return to the Tigers' line-up in time for their ANZAC Day eve clash with Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Riewoldt has missed the last three rounds after sustaining a wrist injury against Collingwood in round two, but will return after impressing on the track.
"He'll play. He's looking really good," Hardwick told the media on Tuesday.
"He wasย very close last week...he's done everything, he's ahead ofย schedule."
However, it's not all good news for the Tigers, with captain Trent Cotchin suffering an injury setback.
Cotchin sustained his injury against the Giants in round three, and is now set to be sidelined until at least round eight.
"Unfortunately, Trent hasn't responded the way we would have liked," Hardwick said.
"He's probably a little bit further away than we would have liked. We probably envisaged he would have played next week (against the Western Bulldogs), but that's not going to be the case now.
"He'll go through a little bit more rehab to get him back where he needs to be...we'll pull him back a little bit and see how it goes from there."
