Richmond’s midfield has received a glowing endorsement from Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge.

The respected Hawks’ star had a very close look at the Tigers’ depth of midfield talent in last Saturday’s clash at the MCG, and he came away highly impressed with what he saw.

“The question is, who do you tag?  Do you do Deledio?  Do you do Cotchin?  Is it Martin?  Foley, now that he’s back in, is winning clearances as well,” Hodge said on Channel Seven’s “Game Day”.

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“So, it’s a question all teams have to try and work out when they’re going to play the Tigers.”

Richmond led the clearance count against Hawthorn 13-0 at one stage, before eventually winning it 54 to 36.

The Tigers also scored nine goals to their Hawk opponents’ three from stoppages throughout the game, to confirm their ranking as the best team in the competition in this area of the game.

Meanwhile, Hodge also praised the efforts of Richmond full-back Alex Rance in restricting Hawthorn’s star spearhead Lance Franklin to just one goal in last Saturday’s Round 19 encounter.

“Rance is maturing into a quality defender,” Hodge said.

“What he did on Franklin was outstanding.

“He beat him to the ball a number of times . . . his body positioning, his physicality, and ‘Buddy’ came off eight goals last week.

“Rance was outstanding.”