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Hardwick still confident Tigers can turn their season around

“We’re really excited about the prospect of what the second half of the year may look like.”

Published by

Danielle Sorati

Richmond senior coach Damien Hardwick is adamant there is still plenty to play out in the Tigers' 2023 season, despite having banked just one win in the opening six rounds.

Sitting 16th on the ladder heading into Round 7, the Tigers are desperate for a win against Gold Coast to break a string of losses, the most recent being an 18-point loss to Melbourne.

Despite the low figure in the points column thus far into the season, Hardwick doesn't think the Tigers should be ruled out of finals contention.

“If you look at outcome … yeah, we've had four losses in a row, for four games though we've been within a goal of the opposition in the last quarter,” Hardwick said to media on Friday.

“There's a lot of things we're doing right, unfortunately the winning element is not the one that we're nailing at the moment.

“Every loss, we get more information, we get a greater understanding and improve us towards the back end of the year.

“I think it's a make-or-break from how you guys define it, but the fact of the matter is it's a long year.

“No one knows where the season's going, sides that have been nine-zip in previous years have not made finals.

“We'll just control what we can control … we're really excited about the prospect of what the second half of the year may look like with those players that we may get back.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 16: Players from both sides react on the final siren during the round one AFL match between Richmond Tigers and Carlton Blues at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on March 16, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The three-time premiership coach is also confident that Dustin Martin is close to regaining his best form.

"He was this close last week to breaking that game open, and we know and he knows that he's a real spirit level of our footy club," Hardwick said.

"Richmond spirit is based around certain players, and he's one of those guys that brings that.

"We felt he was really, really close - he had some great phases of play last week and probably just didn't capitalise.

"He kicked one goal, three, and when he's firing on his whole eight cylinders he's probably kicking three-one which is a difference-maker to the competition.

"But he's building slowly into the season so we look forward to him ripping a game apart pretty shortly."

Hardwick also gave some insight into Dion Prestia after the Tiger was listed as an out with general soreness, revealing that he had been playing hurt due to a pre-season pectoral strain.

“He's been really brave and being completely honest, he's been playing hurt for quite some time, but we just haven't had the numbers on the park,” Hardwick said.

“So he's put his hand up to play and we could have quite easily not played him two or three times, but he wanted to put his hand up.

“We could push him this week, but we'd rather just take the one week … it's a risk we're willing to take instead of losing him for three or four.”

Richmond will take on Gold Coast on Sunday at Marvel Stadium, scheduled for a 3:20pm AEST start.

Published by

Danielle Sorati

2 years ago