DURING a fortnight of below-par performances Brett Deledio heard his critics loud and clear – he just didn't care what they said.
The superstar midfielder was back to his match-winning best on Saturday, accumulating 32 disposals in his side's 41-point win after being voted "worst on ground" by Triple M commentator and friend Nathan Brown last week against Geelong.
Deledio said it was difficult to ignore condemnation but he worried only about what people close to him thought.
"You definitely hear it, there's no doubt about that," Deledio said of his critics.
"It's hard … you've got to be careful not to bite back because that's what they're looking for.
"I've had terrific support from 'Dimma' (Damien Hardwick) and internally from the playing group and assistant coaches, my family's been great support; I worry about what they think of me and not what the outside world does."
Hardwick went into bat for his prized ball-winner after the club's one-point loss to Fremantle in round five, pointing out that while Deledio didn't find much of the ball, his opponent David Mundy was kept quiet too.
The coach said criticising players was easy, but to have responded the way Deledio did on Saturday spoke volumes for the 26-year-old's character.
"People make comments and as much as you'd like to ignore them, until you sit there and you're in the chair and they're about you, you don't know how you're going to respond," Hardwick said.
"They easiest job in the world is to be a critic … that's the calibre of the bloke [to respond].
"The best thing Brett can do and he'd be the first to admit this would be to play good footy and that's what he's done for the majority of the day.
"He sets himself an incredibly high standard and he normally delivers on those."
Richmond set up its win with a blistering end to the first quarter when it booted five goals after the 22-minute mark.
Hardwick maintained his squad was capable of big things in September but had to play consistently well.
"We've got a squad of players that's quite capable of taking this club where it hasn't been for a period of time, we've just got to keep getting the wins," he said.
"We've got to keep playing to the level required that we see week-in week-out from the calibre sides like Geelong, Essendon, Collingwood, Hawthorn – these types of teams.
"At the moment we've got to get rid of the inconsistency that we lose track in quarters."
Despite Shane Tuck being unable to lift his arm in the latter stages of the game after injuring his shoulder, Hardwick insisted he'd be able to put it up for selection next week.
The prognosis of Chris Knights' knee injury was a little more dire, with it believed he tore the patella tendon of his right knee during the second term.
No timeline to his absence was given but the club expected it to be a "long-term" injury.
