Richmond coach Damien Hardwick managed to find an overall team positive in the wake of the Tigers’ loss to Melbourne in last Friday night’s pre-season match at Etihad Stadium.

Although disappointed with what he claimed was a lack of intent from his players throughout the contest, Hardwick had an eye on Richmond’s opening round clash with Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on March 15.

“It was tough conditions out there.  It was quite humid,” Hardwick said.

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“The good thing from our point of view, from a conditioning point of view, is it’s going to be very similar to that come Round 1 . . .

“We got some conditioning, which is what we were after for our players.

“We rotated four through instead of six or seven, just to try a get some run into the legs.”

Hardwick expects key players Jack Riewoldt, Daniel Jackson and Reece Conca to be in line for selection in next Saturday’s pre-season clash with Collingwood at Wangaratta.  The trio was ruled out of last Friday night’s match due to injury.