Richmond VFL coach Tim Clarke admitted that a slow start against Collingwood really hurt the Tigers, who will again focus on improving their contested ball work ahead of the clash against Casey on Saturday.

Clarke said it was disappointing to see the Pies kick away early and lead by 27 points at the first break, with Richmond unable to reduce the margin for the remainder of the game.

“We started really slowly. They kicked six goals or seven goals to our one in the first quarter and really put us on the back foot,” Clarke told Roar Vision.

“We knew going into the game that they’d be hungry and it would be all about contested footy, that’s the way they’ve been playing most of the year.

“They just beat us inside and were able to get their game up and going, and we couldn’t catch them from there.”

The Tigers have struggled to win the contested ball in recent weeks, but Clarke is confident his side can improve in that area of its game.

“It’s always a focus at footy clubs.  When you’re getting beaten as badly as we have been in the last two weeks in that area, it’s always going to be a focus,” Clarke said.

“But we’ll be much better at it, with some personnel coming back into the side and also some changes on the guys playing on ball could help with this.”

Clarke was thrilled with another strong display from in-form ruckman Orren Stephenson, whose hit outs to advantage, pack marking and ability to go forward and kick goals an asset to the VFL side.

The Tigers return to the ME Bank Centre to take on the Scorpions this Saturday, after consecutive away games, and Clarke says a return to the winners’ list will help establish a winning culture at Tigerland.

“It’s been a disappointing four-week block for us and we really need to get the win for our VFL team and all our support staff, but also our players, because we need to have a winning culture around here,” he said.

“Our seniors won on the weekend, they’ve got a big game this weekend to hopefully continue that, but at VFL we need to pull our weight as well and make sure that we set the standard with winning performances.”