With a whopping 42 more inside-50s and 12 more scoring shots, Richmond clearly didn’t maximise its opportunities in last night’s 12-point Dreamtime in Darwin victory over Essendon at TIO Stadium.

Coach Damien Hardwick, however, was extremely content to again bank the precious four premiership points following the Tigers’ seventh win in their past nine games, and he’s eagerly anticipating the team’s improvement over the next few weeks.

“There was a lot of things we did right, we just couldn't quite get the scoreboard ticking over as nicely as we'd like,” Hardwick said.

“I thought we played a pretty good brand of footy and just couldn't quite get the polish on the end, and we left a lot of goals on the table.  

“We’ve got some things in the game we really, really like.

“There are some areas of our game we’ve got to improve.

"Connection inside 50 has been a constant. We’re just not quite getting that last piece of the puzzle. But we think it will come . . .

“We’re missing some high-quality distributors inside 50. Shane Edwards and Dion Prestia are elite at that part of the game.

“Bachar Houli came into the game tonight. He’s missed seven or eight weeks of footy, so he’s going to be better for the run as well.

“We’re finding the pieces, it’s just a matter of those pieces clicking and moving forward from that.”