Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is confident the Tigers are tracking towards becoming a genuine contender for the game’s ultimate prize – but he’s not putting a time-frame on it.

“The style of football that we’re playing at the moment is pretty good,” Hardwick said on Channel Nine’s ‘Footy Classified’.

Get your tickets for Friday night’s match between the Tigers and Hawks at the MCG

“There are some areas of our game I feel we can improve, but we’re playing a good, sustainable brand of footy that keeps us in games and has allowed us to win a lot of games.

“We’ve got some talent that’s certainly improved, and we’ve certainly got some talent in the lower ranks of our development side that are coming through well . . . they’re incredibly exciting. 

“So, we think we’re reasonably placed . . . we can always get better, though.”

Hardwick’s primary focus right now, however, is the short term.

“From our point of view, we’ve just got to worry about this next important four-week block,” he said.

“It’s incredibly important that we continue to put wins on the board and continue to solidify our position in the eight because there’s one through probably 10 to 11 places that can change . . .

“Our biggest consistency battle at the moment is our next four weeks.”