Richmond coach Adem Yze has hit back at claims that his side showed poor effort and intensity in the 91-point thrashing from the Western Bulldogs, saying all metrics would say otherwise.
Entering his first year at the helm, Yze has barely been given a fair shot as the club has suffered an injury crisis that has seen up to 15 players sidelined at the one time.
However, the former Demons forward has opted to look at what he can control and says that the efforts of those on the field against the Bulldogs were promising, despite what Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd has said.
"I'm not going to comment on what other people have to say about us, I just know from our intent and effort โ the tackle numbers and pressure, in the third quarter, I think we were over 200 for our pressure," Yze said on Thursday.
"There's elements and parts of our game that our boys are trying really hard, it's just our execution. At times last week, when you're talking about effort and running โ they were running on top of the ground, and we had two players off the ground with limited rotations, so it just got the better of us in the end.
"Like I said, I couldn't fault our efforts around the contest against a quality (opposition) โ we gave some opportunities to younger players to play against some quality midfielders in the second half, and I thought their intent and effort was OK. It is what it is."
Sitting at 1-8, Tigers fans appear to be in for a long season and three-time premiership player Jack Riewoldt has found it "painful" to watch his old side.
Riewoldt retired at the end of last year having experienced the ultimate glory as recent as 2020, with the club quickly transitioning into a rebuild in the past two seasons.
โAs much as it (your career) finishes in the batter of an eyelid with your last game โฆ you don't lose the burn and fire within,โ Riewoldt said on Fox Footy'sย AFL 360.
โIt was really hard to sit here, watch the footy and make comment about people that are your best mates, and were only teammates two months ago.
โYou want to help, but you've also just got to let go.โ
Yze has opted to find the "silver lining" amidst a tumultuous start to his senior coaching career.
The Tigers will need to make another four change changes for their upcoming clash with Brisbane at the Gabba, which saw Maurice Rioli jnr (syndesmosis), Sam Banks (concussion), Jack Graham (hamstring) and Seth Campbell (knee) all sidelined.
Star utility Liam Baker is set to be recalled while veteran Kamdyn McIntosh and youngster Kane McAuliffe are also in the mix.
Yze also didn't contest the potential for another debutant, with Steely Green inching closer to playing an AFL game alongside Matt Coulthard and Kaleb Smith.
There's a chance [of a debutant] every week," Yze said with a laugh.
"Touch wood, we've got to get through training, but we're getting to a point where there's only 20-odd players to choose from. So if that happens, it's obviously exciting.
"That's the silver lining, while we're going through this, guys are going to get opportunities.
"To be fair, our VFL squad is in really good form, they came up against a really good VFL team (Footscray) and held their own for the majority of the game. All our AFL-listed guys who have been playing VFL are in good form."
