RICHMOND young gun Jack Riewoldt says the only criticism that matters to him comes from the Tigers' inner sanctum, following his six-goal haul against Essendon on Saturday night.

Riewoldt, who equalled his career-best effort against Essendon at the MCG, has now kicked 25 goals for the season, including 10.2 in the past fortnight.

However, his errant kicking for goal earlier in the season attracted some external criticism as the Tigers struggled to put a score on the board.

But Riewoldt's work-rate, with limited tall support in Richmond's attack, has been a highlight of the 21-year-old's performances in 2010.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick likened him to Hawthorn duo Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead at the same age after the Dreamtime at the 'G clash and he was among the Tigers' best in their 35-point loss.

"The only people I'm really fussed about their opinion is the coaching staff and my teammates and outside criticism is not going to fuss me too much," he told richmondfc.com.au post-match.

"We've got a couple of young guys who are going to be good key forwards for us - Ben Griffiths, when he starts playing and Dave Astbury, who played tonight."

While his display in attack was a genuine highlight on Saturday night, Riewoldt played down his effort and said it mattered little when his side was not winning.

"I'm just trying to step up and play my role for the team every week and at the moment we haven't got enough players that are playing to the standard of their own roles," he said.

"It's going to come with a lot of young guys still playing and they're going to develop and along with that, we're going to develop as a side and develop our game-plan as well.

"We've just got to stick tight and fans have got to stick tight, because we know where we're going and we've got a goal and it's going to happen."

Still, Riewoldt said he was now starting to feel as though he belonged at the top level.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better and more adapt to the game and enjoying it," he said.

Game analyser: watch your own match highlights