RICHMOND'S sixth loss in seven matches had a lot to do with the tricky conditions in Cairns and the spirited play of Gold Coast, but Damien Hardwick feels the Tigers' lack of self-belief is the main issue holding the team back at the moment.

After building a 36-point buffer at quarter-time with the aid of a strong wind, Hardwick's men could not stop the Suns scoring heavily when they took over use of the breeze in the second term.

Gold Coast was then able to effectively stifle Richmond in the third quarter to set up the late rally that delivered the Suns the premiership points.

It was a similar scenario to last week, when Essendon finished over the top of the Tigers - much to the frustration of their coach.  

"We've shown over the course of the first half of the year that we can play some exciting footy, but we've just lost the mojo at the moment and we need to rediscover that," Hardwick said after the 15-point loss.

"We're in a pretty big hole at the moment, but we know where we're going and, more importantly, we know where we're at.

"We've got a lot of work to do, but we'll get back on the training track and aim for a better result next week."

Hardwick agreed his team's inability to capitalise on the use of the breeze in the third term had been a key factor in the loss, but he also lamented some inefficient ball movement into an underperforming forward line where spearhead Jack Riewoldt was able to contribute just one goal.
 
"I think Jack had a reasonably down day, as did a lot of other players," Hardwick said.

"We normally do kick it to Jack [a fair bit] and he wins those contests, but Nathan Bock did a terrific job on him today.

"I thought our forward line as a whole had a disappointing day. Ty Vickery was down, Ben Griffiths was down - we probably didn't have a winner in that half of the ground at all.

"It was a disappointing day all around."

The match was played in warm, humid conditions more suited to Gold Coast and in front of a pro-Suns crowd despite it being a home match for the Tigers.

Richmond will play two more games in the next two seasons at the venue as part of a lucrative deal with the AFL.

Although it might make for a healthier balance sheet, it was suggested to Hardwick at his post-match press conference that the result could easily have been a lot different if the game had been played at the MCG.

"I wouldn't have thought so," he said.

"At the end of the day if you want to play in the big one then at some stage you're going to have to play away. We've got to travel better. We haven't travelled well over the course of the last two years so it's a learning experience and we've got to get better at it.

"If you want to win the big one at some stage you're going to have to play away."