RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick believes Essendon is back in the groove ahead of a crunch game between the two sides at the MCG on Saturday night.
With speculation the Bombers could be stripped of premiership points as early as this week over their ongoing supplement scandal, Hardwick is only focusing on elements he can control.
And that is preparing to face a side that returned to form with a last-minute victory over Carlton.
That left the Bombers and Tigers locked on 14 wins for the season following Richmond's 121-point demolition of Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
"I thought they were terrific last night, we watched that game up here," Hardwick said at Skoda Stadium.
"They're an extremely talented side, I think they've had 14 wins like us, you don't get there by luck.
"They've gone through a bit of a lull, we certainly feel they've come out the end of that and look forward to a big game come Saturday night.
"We just hope the Tiger Army gets behind us and makes it a good challenge."
Richmond's victory on Sunday improved its percentage by seven points and returned it to fifth place on the ladder.
Essendon's possible loss of points could have extreme permutations for the Tigers, who are scheduled to face Port Adelaide in the first week of the finals if ladder positions remain true.
But if the Bombers are docked points, that could leave Hardwick's men facing Carlton in a huge Victorian derby.
Sunday's percentage boost at least helps Richmond remain on track to host its first final, just ahead of Essendon and Collingwood, who plays North Melbourne in its final home-and-away match.
"I try not to think too much about the percentage, you just want to come away with the four points," Hardwick said.
"Where it puts us in the finals race I'm not too sure, but it certainly comes in handy.
"There's three sides on the same amount of points, so whatever helps us get a home final is a good result."
The Tigers rebounded from an upset loss to Carlton last week, when they gave up a five-goal lead, but Hardwick feels he's got the balance right for the end of the season.
"Last week we were really disappointed with the way we faded out, but we'd gone through a tougher phase of training and freshened them up this week," he said.
"We look forward to another light week this week to get our guys up and going.
"We controlled the ball pretty well at stages, there are still some areas we're a little bit concerned with, we'll work on those and finalise them going forward into an important game against Essendon on Saturday night."
