RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick might have been dejected after the 44-point blowout in tonight's opening round match against Carlton.

The Tigers, after all, had been hyped up to the hilt after an impressive pre-season. A loss to an old foe in the opening round might have knocked the stuffing out of them.

But instead Hardwick took the glass half-full view.

Richmond was the better team at several stages during the match, including a patch in the third quarter when three goals from makeshift full-forwards Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin fuelled Tigers hopes that they could overhaul the Blues.

The Tigers kicked five goals to three in the third quarter to trail by 12 points at three-quarter time.

They even drew within a goal in the last quarter before Carlton's dominant midfield enabled the Blues to take control and scoot away.

"The great thing about it is we had three solid contributors over the course of the game and yet we got within seven points at the death knock," Hardwick said.

"There's a lot of upside."

The coach said the problem was consistency. While Richmond was good in surges, it was not enough to kill off a team that has been mentioned in premiership conversations.

"We managed to recover our composure at certain stages, but not enough to inflict some damage on Carlton on a consistent basis," Hardwick said.

The statistics tell the tale of the blowout in the last quarter. Carlton had 44 more disposals (107-66) but more tellingly it had 19 more contested possessions (44-25).

Whereas the Blues had been expected to wilt after a stuttering pre-season, they were the ones who grasped the match when the intensity finally levelled off halfway during the last quarter.

"That's a shellacking in the last quarter, which was disappointing," Hardwick said.

"We were ahead for most of the night in that area but to concede 19 in the last quarter was poor.

"In those 50-50 contests, if you don't win them they go the other way and they score."

Hardwick praised the Blues' midfield.

"They just got on top in that area. That’s where the damage was done."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.