Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is backing his midfield group to bounce back in Sunday’s Round 2 match against Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.

The Tigers were well beaten through the midfield in last Thursday night’s opening round clash with Carlton and that was a decisive factor in the team’s 25-point loss.

Hardwick, however, is keeping the faith in his midfielders.

“Our players are a proud bunch. They were disappointed with the way that part of our game around stoppages panned out. So, we’re looking for a response,” Hardwick said.

“The one thing we like to do is, after a disappointing performance, we generally look for a response from those guys.

“The easy thing to do is probably look for significant change, but the fact of the matter is we want to see those guys and how they respond.

“They were disappointed, as we were as a side . . . We’ve got to get better.

“There’s no doubt about it, the game with the six-six-six, and the way the game has changed a little bit with regard to that being a stronger scoring source, has dramatically affected the way we defend behind the ball at stages.

“So, we’ve got to get better in that part of the game. It’s something we’ve known for a period of time, we’ve done some work on it, we just couldn’t execute on Thursday night.

“We look forward to a better and proud response this Sunday.”

Hard-running dual Richmond premiership player Kamdyn McIntosh is shaping as a welcome addition to the Tigers’ line-up after missing the season-opener with a minor calf injury.

“He’s a very under-rated player outside of our four walls. He’s important the way we structure up and the way we go about it,” Hardwick said.

“So, he’ll train today and hopefully take his place in the side because I thought we missed him last week.”