Richmond hearts were in mouths late in the third quarter of the Tigers' six-point victory over West Coast, when All Australian hopeful Dylan Grimes limped off, having landed awkwardly on his right ankle in a marking contest.
However, he returned to finish the match at the MCG, playing an important role in the thrilling victory.
It was another positive on the injury front for the Tigers, who are also likely to regain captain Trent Cotchin and ruckman Toby Nankervis for next week's clash with the Lions.
"(Grimes) is walking around at the moment," Hardwick said.
"We'll assess it once we get more information. But he finished the game, which is a positive for us. It has blown up a little bit, which is generally not a bad thing.
"He's a really important player given the way we play, so we'll monitor him very heavily."
In other injury news out of the weekend, Tiger youngster Sydney Stack is expected to undergo surgery on his injured ankle.
The 19-year-old hurt his right ankle during the opening half of Richmond's 12-point VFL victory over Essendon on Saturday and failed to return to the field after half-time.
He was later seen on crutches and Hardwick confirmed on Sunday that the news wasn't good for the highly rated youngster.
"(His season) will be a little bit delayed obviously with the syndesmosis, which is disappointing," Hardwick said.
"He'll have surgery at some stage this week, we've just got to hope for a good response.
"(Kane) Lambert had a similar type of injury possibly a week earlier last year and he got back and played finals.
"Sydney's a really important player to the way we play so we're hoping he'll come back."
