RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is confident a reduced training load has helped his players shake off any fatigue resulting from their recent travel burden.

The Tigers, who play Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday afternoon, have been to Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane in the past month.

The Sydney trip was particularly arduous as they had to return home by bus due to the volcanic ash cloud.

"They're ok," Hardwick said after being asked whether his players were tired.

"We have recovery sessions and all that sort of thing. We've only trained once this week.

"This time of year is generally pretty hard. It's cold, it's wet, it's miserable.

"We're probably like most other sides in that our training has gone down somewhat and we're just trying to survive for the remainder of the year.

"The injury lists are starting to grow and ours is no different."

If Essendon loses to Hawthorn at the MCG on Friday night, the clash between the Tigers and Demons will become a battle for a place in the top eight.

But Hardwick doesn't want to hear any talk of finals.

"Ninth and 10th, who would've thought it would be this big a game?" he said, with a wry chuckle, on Thursday afternoon.

"It's a big game when two Melbourne side come together. Obviously the week after we've got Carlton, so it's going to be another big game.

"When things start to go ok then our crowd and our supporters get out there and it's a terrific atmosphere.

"But for us, it's all about getting our process right."

Richmond moved level on points with eighth-placed Essendon by defeating the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba last weekend.

As a result, the Tigers are on the verge of entering the top eight for the first time since round two, 2008.

However, the excitement of the fans has not rubbed off on the coach, who has become a very disciplined press-conference performer.

"Every week there's four points up for grabs," Hardwick told the media at the ME Bank Centre. "Every game within the AFL at the moment is a big game.

"I know people will try and build it up to be something, and the crowd will probably be bigger than normal, but for our guys we've just got to keep going about the things we do well."

Melbourne's erratic form means it's hard for opposition clubs to predict how they'll play.

In the past month, the Demons have been trashed by Carlton, comfortably beaten Essendon, gone down to Collingwood by 88 points and defeated Fremantle by 15 goals.

"Watching them against Fremantle last week, their ability to move the ball and move the ball with relative ease and at pace was probably concerning for us," Hardwick said.

"We've got to manage to slow them down and curtail their forward line. Brad Green had an outstanding game last week and he's an outstanding leader.

"They've got a number of players who can jump up and hurt you. Their forward line of Jurrah, Sylvia, even Petterd, these types of players, they can kick three or four goals at the drop of a hat.

"The task is there for us to see how we manage that, but we're very much looking forward to it."

Richmond will take on Melbourne without rugged forward Jake King, who was suspended for striking Brisbane Lion Ash McGrath.

"We are disappointed [with the tribunal's decision], but Jake has got to stop putting himself in those situations," Hardwick said.

"Ash McGrath and Jake probably went at it a little bit together at the start, but the thing with Jake is that he's a fiery bloke by nature.

"He's usually pretty good in those situations, so we're disappointed. He's become a quality player for us and he's going to be a huge loss on the weekend.

"He's a guy that is able to kick goals, puts enormous defensive pressure on sides, and also gives off a couple as well."