Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believes Tiger fans should start seeing results from the Club’s “half-step back” soon, as the team is reinvigorated with youth.
After suggesting the Tigers might need to “take a little half step back to go two steps forward”, following a 36-point loss to Adelaide last round, Hardwick denied any suggestion that belief had been shaken so early in the 2016 campaign.
As the team flew out to Perth on Thursday for Friday night’s clash with West Coast at Domain Stadium, Hardwick claimed his comments reflected the loss of experienced personnel last season and the need to promote youth, while trialling players in different positions.
“It was probably just more about the fact that we’ve injected five or six first-or-second-year players into our side,” Hardwick said at Melbourne Airport.
“Last year, people forget that we lost Chris Newman, Dan Jackson, Nathan Foley, Ricky Petterd, Chris Knights . . . We lost a great deal of experience, and there's a void there.
"So we've got make sure we find that next tier of players.
“We're still incredibly confident with the players we’ve got, and how far we can go this year, but it is going to take a little bit of time for those players to jell.
“We're seeing at the moment some really good signs from these players, but they’re not all clicking at the same time.
“We're only three games in. It's a very small sample size that people are making assumptions over.
“The season's 22 rounds long . . . we've just got to invest in our players, get the required results we're after and play some good footy – which we know isn't too far away.”
Richmond has blooded young players such as Kamdyn McIntosh, Corey Ellis, Connor Menadue, Daniel Rioli and Jayden Short over the past two seasons, and haven't had the services of stars Brett Deledio (quad), Ivan Maric (back) and recruit Chris Yarran (foot) so far in 2016.
The Tigers again will be without Maric for the key ruck duel with Eagles star Nic Naitanui, as they exercise caution not to rush the big man back after just one game in the VFL since overcoming a back issue.
Hardwick didn't put a time-frame on Maric's return to senior ranks, but declared Deledio a chance to play next weekend after his quad complaint.
“We're very confident he's turned the corner. He's a possibility to play next week, which is really encouraging,” Hardwick said.
“The running has been a non-issue, the kicking has, but the kicking has turned the corner, so we're really encouraged that there is an opportunity for him to play next week versus Melbourne.”
