RICHMOND coach Adem Yze expects out-of-contract duo Liam Baker and Jack Graham to decide on their future in the coming days, after the Tigers claimed the wooden spoon on Saturday.

The pair may join retiring quartet Dustin Martin, Dylan Grimes, Marlion Pickett and Sam Naismith in leaving the club this year.

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"The next few days are going to be really important," Yze said after the Tigers' 28-point loss to Gold Coast on Saturday.

"We're not going to rush them into that decision… we love them as players. Watching Liam Baker today, he plays with his heart and soul for our footy club and that's all I could expect the whole season. And Jack Graham was the same.

"So yeah, when they make that decision, will be the next few days for sure."

Yze lamented the sheer number of injuries the club had to contend with in his first season at the helm, and will be focused on preventing such a massive injury list next year.

But the first-year coach remains proud that they never dropped their workrate or effort.

"There's some management around our soft tissue that we weren't good enough as a club, let alone our fitness staff, then there's obviously the guys that have gone and done a knee or rolled ankles and things like that. So, there's ones that you can't control," Yze said.

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"When you add all those things up, we've had a horrendous season on the injury front, so yeah, we'll be looking at all those things and as a footy club, that's what we need to do.

"We've got to have best practice in coaching, fitness, and training."

Something Yze thinks the club nailed, however, is sending off its retiring players well, with Martin, Grimes, Pickett, and Naismith doing a lap of honour after the match.

"It's something we do really well as a footy club," Yze said.

"Credit to our supporters for coming out and showing that respect and gratitude. It was fitting that we could send them off and hopefully show how much we love them."

Damien Hardwick, who coached three of the four retirees to multiple premierships, was fittingly the opposition coach and able to share in the celebrations.

"It's one of the great things about our game, but also one of the sad ones when you see champions of the game leave, and I think that the Tigers did it really well," Hardwick said.

"First and foremost, to get Dustin back in the country is an incredible achievement, I wasn't sure he was going to make it back… the Richmond faithful did a terrific job."

Hardwick noted that the way the game played out, with its ebbs and flows, was emblematic of both club's seasons as a whole.

"It's funny, me and 'Ooze' were having a joke at the end. There was Richmond killing Richmond, and there was Gold Coast killing Gold Coast," Hardwick said.

"Both sides were very similar, just with the mistakes and, look, they're both relatively inexperienced sides and they'll get better… I thought our boys did some really good things, but there's some times where we should kick goals that we just leave them on the table."

The seasons of two players, however, has Hardwick enthusiastic about the future ahead at the Suns. Sam Flanders, who broke the club record for most disposals in a season, beating out Gary Ablett jnr's record from 2012, and young gun Bodhi Uwland.

"He's one of the premier players in the competition," Hardwick said of Flanders.

"He's very unheralded. Once again, we're playing up in the northern states, he probably doesn't get the recognition that he will, which is sort of good in a way because he probably should get tagged, but we're very, very lucky and very privileged to have him at our footy club."

And Uwland, who has been nominated for the Telstra AFL Rising Star Award, is someone Hardwick likens to long-serving Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin.

"Not going to lie, at some stages through the night I wake up thinking about Bodhi Uwland," Hardwick laughed.

"He just does some amazing things and, once again, because we're up north, he doesn't get the credit he deserves… He's a great leader by the way he plays, and just incredibly brave. You know, he reminds me of a guy across the road, Nick Vlastuin. Exactly the same."