JACK Riewoldt is playing as well as star Hawthorn duo Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead did at his age, says Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.  

Riewoldt equalled his career-best haul of six goals in Saturday night's 35-point loss to Essendon, and the ex-Hawk assistant was impressed with what he saw.

"He's going to be a good player, that kid," said Hardwick after the match. "He's 21 years of age and he's kicked a number of goals. The most important thing, though, is that he's leading the league in inside-50 tackles, which for us, is an outstanding achievement.

"I've been lucky enough to see a couple of young key forwards going around at Hawthorn and he's right up there at this stage.

"He competes really well and he uses his body probably as good as anyone I've seen for his age. The key with Jack is he's just got to develop that consistency going forward, because we're still waiting for another couple of the other key forwards to step up to help him out."

Hardwick said Riewoldt's form was also stacking up against some of the other elite forwards in the competition after nine rounds.

"Jack's only 21 years of age and he's had as many shots on goal as Brendan Fevola and Jonathan Brown," he said.

"So for a side that at the moment is down the wrong end of the ladder, he's competing really, really well - probably against the premier defenders as well.

"He's our number one forward."

Despite a 0-9 record entering round 10, Hardwick said the team is remaining resilient.

"As soon as you get down on yourself in this league and we are in hard times and we acknowledge it and accept it - you're gone," he said.

"We're trying to remain as positive as we can and learn a lesson from every game and we'll look at the first 15 minutes and see what we can do better and we've got a fair indication of what that is already.

"The wins at some stage will come and we hope it's next week."