THEY might be the heavyweight flag favourite, but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says his team is just as beatable as any of the other finalists.
The Tigers will line up against Hawthorn next Thursday night having not played their best football for a number of weeks.
Hardwick said there were no guarantees heading into next week's qualifying final at the MCG and that they were well aware of a need to step things up.
"We've never said we're unbeatable, every side is, and we're one of those eight that are," Hardwick said on Wednesday.
"We certainly can be beaten. We acknowledge that and we accept that.
"If we don't come to play like any other side in the competition, we'll get beaten.
"Now there's only eight sides in the comp left … any side on its given day, provided they play their best footy, is capable of beating anyone else."
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Kane Lambert and Dan Butler are expected to be available for the Hawks' game, although Butler will play managed minutes in the VFL qualifying final against Williamstown on Saturday night.
Hardwick said the proximity of the VFL game to Thursday night wouldn't necessarily hamper Butler's chances of an AFL call-up.
"He's an important player to the way we want to play the game so once again we'll give him every chance to put his hand up to play," he said.
"He's missed seven weeks so there's a little bit of a risk there but we completely back in our medical team to do their very best to get our players to that level.
"We're confident if he puts his hand up to play, he'll be right to play."
There's no denying the Tigers haven't been themselves lately, but with little to play for – especially in round 23 against the Bulldogs – few could blame them.
They'd known for a fortnight they would finish on top and could start getting their heads around the prospect of a qualifying final.
But they've got to emerge from last week's "holding pattern" to become giant killers next week when they hit the in-form Hawks on the back of their six straight wins.
"I'm very confident our guys will perform, they're very process-driven with the way they go about it, Trent leads from the front in that area," Hardwick said.
"Once again, as a coach, you can sit there and try and read the tea leaves, but the reality is as soon as that ball's bounced, the players play.
"That's what we've done throughout the year and that's what we'll do again on Thursday night.
"I'm very confident our boys will hunt the opposition and get the game on our terms, if we play our best footy."
They also have to find a way to combat Hawks ball-magnet Tom Mitchell; he had 42 possessions and kicked a goal when the teams last met back in round three.
Their strategy at the time was to "control the collective rather than the individual", with Trent Cotchin spending time against him in a head-to-head battle before Jack Graham tried to stifle him.
Hardwick said they were likely to again back in their structure rather than focus on one player.
"It's an interesting question. He's a terrific player, there's no doubt about it," Hardwick said.
"The thing is, they've got a guy by the name of Isaac Smith, they've got [Jack] Gunston, they're got [Luke] Breust … they've got a lot of good players.
"You can sit there and manage to look after one of them but sometimes it can take away from your structure as well.
"We'll back our boys in, if he gets out of hand, the reality is he's probably going to get 30 anyway, so we'll look at that system and see how it goes … we'll back in our system versus the opposition most weeks."
