Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has found several shining lights from Friday night’s narrow loss to premiership fancy the Sydney Swans.

One of the positives was the performance of midfielder Dustin Martin, who gathered a game-high, and career-high, 36 disposals.

"I think he's probably been close to our best player for the majority of the year," Hardwick said.

"He's still got some areas of his game we'd like to improve, but he's only going to get better."

Another player worthy of a pat on the back from the coach was key defender Alex Rance, who had a tremendous duel with Lance Franklin.

The Swans star finished with four goals in what proved to be a match-winning performance, yet Hardwick could not fault the effort of his man.

"I thought Rance won that battle," he said. "It was an outstanding contest. A really good one-on-one contest. I though Alex battled manfully."

Hardwick was also delighted with the contribution made by inexperienced onballer Anthony Miles, who finished with 28 disposals and two goals in his third game for the Tigers.

"He's been very good," Hardwick said. "He wins the ball, he uses it well. He just puts his head where it needs to be.

"That sort of game suits him to a tee, and to finish off with two goals is a special effort.

"He's really impressed me, and I think he's impressed the AFL world in general."