As formidable a foe as triple reigning premier and current 2016 ladder leader Hawthorn is, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has declared his charges are eagerly awaiting the challenge of taking on the high-flying Hawks in Sunday’s Round 18 clash at the MCG. 

“They’re an amazing side.  You talk about the three phases of the game . . . contested-wise, I heard ‘Clarko’s’ (Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson) comments (about that) last week, and they’re still okay at that sort of thing.  But offensively and defensively they’re above elite,” Hardwick said.

“They’re the best in the competition at those two phases, and that probably complements them a little bit with the other one (contested possessions) . . .

“We showed the guys some vision of what they do really well this morning. 

“Trying to contain all those things is going to be tough, but our boys are up for the challenge.  They’re really excited by playing the best. 

“We’ve been in reasonable form without being over the top.  Our win/loss over the last seven or eight weeks has been pretty good . . .

“It’s a great challenge for our boys. 

“We speak about the challenge of playing against the best . . . Dustin (Martin), let’s see how you go, Trent (Cotchin) the same.  Let’s put the challenge firmly on those guys to get the result we’re after.”

Hardwick revealed the question of whether or not to tag Hawthorn’s champion ‘ball-magnet’ midfielder Sam Mitchell, had occupied a fair bit of time at the Tigers’ match committee meetings throughout the week.

“Some sides have had some success with tagging Sam,” Hardwick said.

“Our philosophy is you can tag him . . . but then they’ve got (Luke) Hodge, (Shaun) Burgoyne, (Jordan) Lewis . . . all those other players that can come in.

“We probably haven’t tagged as such.  We’ll look to maybe go to it if someone’s getting out of control. 

“But if you can lock one away, you’ve still got seven or eight (others) that you’ve got to worry about.

 “So we’ll just back our boys in head-to-head at this stage and see how they go.”