FRUSTRATED Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says the Tigers let themselves down during their 12-point loss to Fremantle by playing nowhere near as well as they had in previous matches.

The Tigers had won four games in five weeks — against Port Adelaide, Sydney Swans, Hawthorn and St Kilda — before returning to earth against Fremantle.

"We didn't play anywhere near the standard we can," Hardwick said.

"We just didn't go in hard enough.

"They were smashing into packs; we were sifting off.

"On a day like today that's not going to cut it."

Richmond earned the points in the first quarter, kicking five goals to four, but Fremantle became the better team when it began raining harder during the second quarter.

The rain eased off after half-time, but Fremantle still had slightly the better of the conditions.

Richmond's high possession game appeared to let it down against the close-checking Fremantle side, but Hardwick said the problem was more to do with ball use.

He noted that the Tigers had had 15 more inside 50s.

"We just didn't use it well enough going inside 50," he said. "We didn't capitalise."

With a score of 12.6 (78) to 9.12 (66), the Tigers had 21 scoring shots to Fremantle's 18.

The Tigers also struggled to break through Fremantle's defensive zones.

"We had a truckload of blokes in our defensive half and we just didn't work through them well enough," Hardwick said.

"Fremantle to their credit are a tough, resilient unit.

"They just played a hell of a lot tougher than us today."

Hardwick acknowledged that midfielder Brett Deledio had had a poor game, with Fremantle stopper Ryan Crowley limiting him to 15 disposals.

The coach said Deledio's teammates could have done a better job in blocking for him.