Dustin Martin isn't the answer to all of Richmond's problems as the Tigers' scratchy return to the field continued with a poor loss to Hawthorn.

The superstar midfielder and two-time Norm Smith medallist missed Thursday night's 32-point loss to the Hawks with a rib injury.

Martin, who has played 20 or more games in all of his 10 completed seasons in the AFL, is expected to return next week against St Kilda to help bolster a Tigers unit that has only managed five goals in its past two games since recommencing the season from the COVID-19 break.

But coach Damien Hardwick says the Tigers don't rely too strongly on the brilliant 28-year-old, whose game-changing ability was severely missed against the relentless Hawks.

"You take one of the best players, if not the best player in the League, out of a side [when] you'd prefer to have him than not," Hardwick said post-game.

"[But] the reality is there's 22 other players that play our way. They just didn't play well enough tonight. Dustin's one player, he's not the Richmond Football Club.

"He's a very important player, don't get me wrong, but our expectation and the club expectation is our players who pull on the jumper play a hell of a lot better than they did tonight. We've got to coach them better as well."

Hardwick, who labelled the Tigers' first defeat in more than 12 months as "Un-Richmondlike", said Martin is expected to be fit to face the Saints at Marvel Stadium.

"We think he's highly probably next week. He was touch-and-go this week but we made the call to get it right," Hardwick said.

"We don't want it to be nagging him for another two or three weeks. Our expectation is he plays next week."