Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is wary of the improvement Collingwood has added to its game since the two teams met earlier this season, as the return bout between them looms large this Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers won that Round 6 clash by 43 points, but it took them until late in the match to shake the Magpies off.

Since then, Collingwood has won nine of 11 games and climbed to third place on the AFL ladder.

“They've been terrific. I remember after we played them in Round 6, I thought they were an outstanding side then,” he said.

“We took some things we thought they were doing really well, we looked at those and added a few of those dynamics to our game as well.

“’Bucks’ (Nathan Buckley) is coaching them really well and they’re playing really well. They’re really tough to beat, they've got a great system in place and they play that system really well.

“It's going to be an incredible challenge for us to try and beat them, but we certainly look forward to that.

“There are some things in our game we look forward to challenging ourselves against and seeing how the game pans out.”