Positive reinforcement is a key part of Richmond’s approach to turning around its slow start to the 2016 season.

With the Tigers struggling on just one win after five rounds, coach Damien Hardwick underlined the importance of “reinforcing the things we know work, and doing them to the level of expectation we have”. 

“We’ve got a number of things that we measure our game on, and the majority of those have been below expectation,” Hardwick said.

“There are some things that we’re covering off okay, but they’re not quite to the level that we know we can. 

“We’ve got to reach our standard of performance of last year, before we can go onwards and reach a new standard of performance this year. 

“So, we’re trying to get back to that standard of performance of last year, and then take those steps forward to get us back to where we need to be.”

Along with the positive reinforcement at Tigerland, is a hard-line attitude from the coaching group towards the players’ performance.

“We put the acid on players on a weekly basis,” Hardwick said.

“With their performance, they get rated incredibly heavily. 

“We forensically examine their games, and they get adequate feedback on a weekly basis.  So the acid is always there. 

“It’s a performance-based industry . . . if you don’t perform, you play seconds football. 

“We’ve dropped a number of guys this year because of that.  No greater example . . . Anthony Miles goes back week previous, plays a great game of footy for us last week . .”