Richmond has turned the early-season absence of key playing personnel into a major positive, according to coach Damien Hardwick.

In the absence of star performers such as Trent Cotchin, Jack Riewoldt, Alex Rance, Dustin Martin, Bachar Houli, Shaun Grigg and Jayden Short, the Tigers have invested heavily in young, inexperienced players, and it looks like paying handsome dividends down the track.

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“The one thing that this has been is a bit of a blessing in a way because we’ve unearthed some talent that’s going to help us long term,” Hardwick said.

“If you look at the long game, the addition of (Sydney) Stack, young (Liam) Baker, Jack Ross, these sort of players, it creates a really good opportunity and a good look.

“From crisis comes opportunity, and that’s something we’ve been really blessed to have a look at and gain some players as a result.

“Those boys will be back (this season), the majority anyway, so we’re going to get better as a result of this.”