Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says his players have taken responsibility for their poor performance against Essendon last week, and know where they must improve ahead of the clash against North Melbourne.

Hardwick explained that the coaches’ review of the Dreamtime clash, which took place on Monday, showed that key elements of the Tigers’ game were simply not good enough.

“Our intensity and work rate were nowhere near the required standard to compete at AFL level,” he said.

“The players took that on board, and they’ll drive it this week at training.”

Richmond will have another opportunity to turn things around on Sunday night, against a Kangaroos team which has won the last three encounters between the two sides.

Hardwick said that while the match at Etihad Stadium is important for his side, so is every other game.

“They’re all important from our point of view. We just need to get a win on the board,” he said.

“The great thing about our game is that we get another week where we get another opportunity to prove to ourselves that we’re better than we were last week.”

Hardwick is under no illusions as to how talented the in-form Kangaroos are, and believes that restricting their dangerous rebound play is key to the Tigers’ chances.

“They’re in the eight so they’re obviously better that us at the moment. When they get the game on their terms they are a very, very good side,” he said.

“They attack really hard from the back half, and they play a really exciting brand of footy that’s hard to stop when they’re up and going.

“So, we’ll be defensively trying to limit that and impact the scoreboard ourselves.”