RICHMOND has been hit with a string of injuries to key players already this season, including premiership bookends Jack Riewoldt and Alex Rance, and coach Damien Hardwick is the latest casualty.
The Tigers' coach was a late withdrawal from Thursday's media conference, replaced by assistant Justin Leppitsch, after having some dental work this week.
"He's had some dentistry done, so he looks a bit like [Queen singer] Freddie Mercury at the moment, so he's decided to bring in the experts so he can just sit there and recover. He didn't want to embarrass himself," Leppitsch said.
Hardwick will coach Richmond in its clash with Greater Western Sydney on Saturday at Giants Stadium, although Leppitsch said his three-quarter time address could be interesting.
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The same can't be said of Riewoldt, who will miss one month after fracturing his wrist in last week's loss to Collingwood.
The Tigers could replace the three-time Coleman medallist with premiership teammate Josh Caddy, who has recovered from an ankle injury and is in line for his first game of the season.
"We'll find out at training today. He's keen to play. It's one of those ones where we'll get him through the session and they'll make the call. He's very close. I'd say touch-and-go at this point," Leppitsch said.
"He will play somewhere (in the VFL or AFL). We just need to determine if he's done enough training, how he looks today, and we'll put it all together. As we did with Tom [Lynch] a couple of weeks ago, we had to make a similar call and made a good one there, and we'll have to do the same.
"Josh plays a bit of midfield as well but he can definitely play the role Jack has. He's done that in the past."
Riewoldt will join Rance and the suspended Dylan Grimes on the sidelines, and Leppitsch admitted the Tigers' charmed run with injuries in the past two years meant this week presented a tough challenge.
"It's not easy. I think it's harder to replace the back end of the ground than the front end – at the front end you can make it up a bit at times and unpredictability can work to your advantage," he said.
"But obviously not having Dylan and Alex at one end of the ground and Jack at the other doesn't help."
Defender Ryan Garthwaite is in contention to replace Grimes after his Achilles concern, but Bachar Houli (hamstring) is another week away.
The Tigers managed only 32 tackles last week against the Magpies, with superstar midfielder Dustin Martin one of six players not to lay any. The Brownlow and Norm Smith medallist hasn't registered a tackle yet this season, but Leppitsch said the whole team needs to get back to its tenacious tackling best.
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"Dustin's ball-winning ability and what he does around the contest is such a big thing for us and [the tackling] is highlighted when he's tagged, and we collectively haven't defended well, we go to him," he said.
"There's other guys who are in our team who are there to tackle and who haven't been doing it. Collectively as a group we need to lift."
