Richmond VFL coach Tim Clarke was disappointed with an inconsistent display against Port Melbourne but, given the impressive form of some key Tigers, believes his side can still play finals football.

The Tigers were overrun after a strong start against the ladder-leader on Saturday and Clarke said losing the contested ball was the key factor in the loss.  

"Port Melbourne came out after quarter time and really won the ball inside and our boys couldn’t really go with them,” Clarke told Roar Vision.

“Their strong midfielders, their quality midfielders really got going in terms of possessions … our backs did well to contain their forwards considering the amount of ball that Port Melbourne had going in there.”

Senior Tiger Shaun Grigg, who was the Tigers leading ball winner in the loss, and Chris Knights are both progressing well after returning from injury. Ben Lennon also impressed and Clarke said the 19 year-old is working hard to lock down a spot in the senior side.

“He played on the wing, which he hasn’t done yet and he played a really good game. He ran really hard defensively to help out our backs and then worked up the ground and had 28 touches.”

“He’s doing a lot of the right things, we’re still focusing on his contested stuff, he needs to improve in that area so he can be a regular senior player in the next 12 months if he improves his inside game.”

The 12th-placed Tigers are six points off the top eight but Clarke is confident that a win over Sandringham at the ME Bank Centre on Saturday will kick start his side’s late run for a finals berth.

“They’ve got a few injuries, Sandy, and so do [their AFL affiliate] the Saints but it’ll be a competitive game with the way they play. We just need to match them inside. We can’t afford to have a game like we did on the weekend where the opposition midfield take control,” Clarke said.

“We need to control it in there with our ruck advantage and if we can do that and get it inside 50 to our forwards, I don’t think they’ll be able to compete with us…but the next two weeks (will) really set (us) up to see if we’re a chance to play finals.”