Richmond enters the 2017 season fully aware of what its best players – Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance, Dustin Martin and Jack Riewoldt – have to offer on-field on a consistent basis.

With Brownlow Medals, Jack Dyer Medals, Coleman Medals and All-Australian blazers to their collective credit, Punt Road’s ‘awesome foursome’ clearly has the runs on the board.

The unknown factor for the Tigers this year, however, is how consistently high a level of performance their next tier of players – in particular Brandon Ellis, Nick Vlastuin, Ben Griffiths and Reece Conca – can produce.

Three of those players – Ellis, Vlastuin and Conca – were first round AFL National Draft picks, while Griffiths was an early second round selection.

Conca and Griffiths have encountered numerous injury problems throughout their league football careers to date, which has prevented them from living up to their pre-draft expectations.

Ellis and Vlastuin have been far more durable and, as a result, have exerted more influence within Richmond’s line-up.

But the upshot is that all four of them have scope for significant improvement, and they’re still young enough to achieve that.

“We’re really excited by those guys,” Hardwick said on Fox Sports’ ‘AFL Tonight’.

“We’ve challenged them . . .

“Nick’s played more midfield time this year, and we feel for his next progression as a player, that’s his challenge . . . to become a good midfield player within the AFL competition. 

“Brandon Ellis, we put down back, to give him the opportunity to flourish in that role.  He probably got a little bit stale on the wing, and we’ve asked him to play an outside role at half-back, where he played at junior level. 

“Ben Griffiths is one of those players who, if we can just get him consistently on the park, he’s going to be really valuable for us.  He played 13 games last year and we’re hoping to get more game consistency from him this year.

“Reece Conca’s another one . . .

“Those are the sort of players we’re looking forward to taking that next step. 

“And there’s no doubt, with those players, if we get them playing good, consistent footy, Richmond will be going in the right way up the ladder.”