DAMIEN Hardwick has spoken of his "love" for Dustin Martin, just days after the Richmond champion announced his retirement.

Martin was the first player drafted by the Tigers following Hardwick's appointment as coach in late 2009 and the duo went on to spearhead the club's triple-premiership dynasty.

Coaching the three-time Norm Smith Medal winner for 278 of his 302 games, Hardwick was effusive in his praise.

"He's probably the best player I've coached … and one of the best players I've ever seen," he said.

"What I loved about him is he's a match-winner. When push comes to shove and the game's on the line, he wants the ball.

"He's a player I love. It was a privilege to coach him.

"He'll retire a champion of the game, not only of the Richmond Football Club, but the AFL in general."

Hardwick said his favourite memory of Martin came just before half-time of the 2020 Grand Final win over Geelong, where the Brownlow medallist kicked a miraculous goal to give the Tigers some hope they would seize in the second half.

"If he didn't kick that goal just before half-time, Richmond don't win that Grand Final," Hardwick said.

Of more immediate concern for the Gold Coast coach is trying to lead his team to three wins over the final three rounds to propel the Suns to their first winning season in club history.

Hardwick said he was confident the "vast majority" of a premiership team was already on the list, although there would be changes to face Essendon on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.

"Sometimes players have to go back and have a circuit-breaker and work on some things they need to get better," he said.

"A lot of those players are young and developing, but just have to get better at certain facets of the game.

"Progression is not necessarily linear. The journey is up and down.

"We're doing a lot of stuff right. We're not getting the benefit of our hard work, but also we're not playing our moments."