Damien Hardwick senses a breakthrough game isn't far away for Richmond superstar Dustin Martin, who he described as a "spirit level" for his side.

The Tigers will host Gold Coast on Sunday at Marvel Stadium, with both teams desperate for a win to jump-start their season.

Richmond have banked one victory from six games to sit in unfamiliar territory near the bottom of the ladder but coach Hardwick said it wasn't all doom and gloom.

"If you look at outcome, we've had four losses in a row. But for four games we've been within a goal of the opposition in the last quarter, so there's a lot of things we're doing right," Hardwick said at Punt Road Oval on Friday.

"Unfortunately, the winning element is not the one that we're nailing at the moment.

"It's a long year ... narratives are important in the AFL media landscape but no one knows where the season's going.

"Sides that have been nine-zip in previous years have not made finals so we'll just control what we can control, and we'll work hard and we'll get better."

Tigers talisman Martin has been solid but not spectacular in the opening rounds, last Monday booting one goal and three behinds in their 18-point loss to Melbourne.

Hardwick felt the 31-year-old Brownlow medallist reflected the Tigers, with both close to regaining their 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," the coach said of Martin.

"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."