Richmond star recruit Tom Lynch will "always be working back" from the PCL injury that sidelined him for six months, coach Damien Hardwick says.

Despite sitting equal-second in the race for the Coleman Medal with 17 goals, Lynch has been held to just one major from his past three games.

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The barren run of form led to Essendon great Matthew Lloyd on Monday labelling Lynch a "liability", and Hardwick was unhappy with the reference.

"We'll just worry about what we can control; he's second in the Coleman I think, last time I looked. At the end of the day, it's easy to sit behind a keyboard and throw out barbs, isn't it? But we certainly know what we value Tom for … he's an incredible player for us, and he's going to get better,” Hardwick said.

"We've been through this path before with (recruits) Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis, they took a little while to come through our system and learn it. It's a different system, and Tom's adjusting to that.

"We spoke about it at the start of the year, we knew that, so we're very happy with where he's at.

"Can he play better? He can, there's no doubt about it. But I look at the game and I look at it pretty heavily, and there's probably some contests that he didn't get rewarded for by the umpiring department, probably could have got three kicks inside 50 for three goals, and we wouldn't be having the same conversation."

Lynch had a very limited pre-season after two surgeries on his PCL, and didn't play a practice match before round one.

"He'll always be working back from that, it's a significant injury that saw him miss six months of footy," Hardwick said.

"It does take time. People forget that when you have injuries of a significant nature, it takes time to get back to your absolute best. He's working incredibly hard and we're happy with his progress."

Hardwick confirmed David Astbury will return to the side to face Fremantle on Sunday after missing last week's loss to the Western Bulldogs with an ankle injury.

Fellow defender Ryan Garthwaite is also a confirmed inclusion with Nick Vlastuin (ankle) missing, while Riley Collier-Dawkins and Jake Aarts will have to wait until the final team is named before knowing if they will make their debuts.

"We're really excited about what he (Garthwaite) has to offer. He just hasn't had the consistency of AFL games in a continuum. He'll get the opportunity now to grab that role and make a good fist of it," Hardwick said.

The Tigers have already fielded three debutants this year – as well as the inexperienced Liam Baker and Shai Bolton – due to their significant injury list.

"You generally look at the amount of players we've played (32) and it's more an end-of-year total. The pleasing thing for us is our record is 4-3, so our heads are above water," Hardwick said.

"It's a really good look for our footy club. Are we going through some challenging times? Absolutely, but we're certainly finding out a lot about our playing group and our coaching group as well. It's really exciting for us and it's really exciting for our fans.

"The majority of players we're talking about, they'll be back, but we've unearthed some talented players who will lead us where we need to go in the not-so-distant future."

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