RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick insists it's not all doom and gloom at the Tigers despite their second thrashing in as many weeks.
The Tigers were restricted to their lowest score in 55 years when they kicked 3.5 (23) in their 88-point loss to Greater Western Sydney in Canberra.
It follows last weekend's 70-point belting by Hawthorn, but Hardwick believes the Tigers are developing young players they can build around.
"A lot of the cattle that are going to take us forward are already here," Hardwick said.
"They're young and developing.
"(Oleg) Markov was good again, (Daniel) Rioli was good in patches as was Jayden Short.
"They just take a little bit of consistency, but they'll get there."
The Tigers (7-11) will use the final four games of the season to build towards next year.
"We'll just keep working our way through it," Hardwick said.
"We still want to win as many games as we can. It's looking less likely with our form, but we've got to keep challenging ourselves.
"They're a strong group, they're a resilient group and we're capable of righting the ship."
Star midfielder Dustin Martin found plenty of the ball with 28 possessions, but had a limited impact on the contest.
"He hunted the ball well," Hardwick said.
"The thing with Dusty he always has three blokes on him around stoppages just mauling him a lot of the time.
"He probably gets the rough end of the stick creating the play and some holding the ball decisions went against him today, but we'll continue to work.
"Trent (Cotchin) battled really hard, but we weren't good enough as a midfield group today."
Hardwick lauded the performance of fullback Alex Rance, who had 26 possessions and nine marks, while also keeping forward Jeremy Cameron to two goals.
"Alex was outstanding, it's the reason he's an All-Australian defender," Hardwick said.
"David Astbury was also very good. I thought the backs overall were great.
"Our midfield was probably down today and up forward we struggled also."