Dusty absent, but something else was missing too

DUSTIN Martin’s absence isn’t Richmond’s sole problem; getting the champion midfielder back isn’t the only solution as frustrated Tigers coach Damien Hardwick confronts a serious dilemma in his team’s flag defence.

Yes, it would help. But this isn’t about one man.

Thursday night’s 32-point loss to a relentless Hawthorn was far more about a collective mindset, application, work ethic and lack of pressure.

In time, it might be seen to be about hunger too.

Those are the tangibles that would have kept Dimma tossing and turning on Thursday night as he dissected one of the club’s most frustrating performances since winning the 2017 premiership.

Hardwick knows it would be a cop-out to suggest Martin’s absence with bruised ribs was the difference.

“You take one of the best players, if not the best player in the League, out of a side (when) you’d prefer to have him than not,” Hardwick said.

“The reality is there’s 22 other players that play our way. They just didn’t play well enough. Dustin’s one player, he’s not the Richmond Football Club.

“The club expectation is our players who pull on the jumper play a hell of a lot better than they did (against Hawthorn).

We’ve got to coach them better as well.”

Saying he expected Martin to recover from his bruised ribs in time for Saturday week’s clash with St Kilda, Hardwick put the acid back on his players to once more become the hunter after the Tigers were outhunted by the Hawks, who sought their own form of redemption after being overrun by Geelong last week.

Hardwick labelled the team’s five-goal total for a second straight week as “un-Richmond-like”.

“I just spoke to the playing group, and we spoke about the things we weren’t doing that we should be doing,” he said.

“It is easy to sit there and look at the game and (think) we have got the answers, but we have just got to execute the things we are trying to implement. We pride ourselves on a number of things we do and none of those things really shone out.”