WITH its 2015 ledger teetering at 2-4 after six rounds, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has flagged several changes for next Sunday's blockbuster against Collingwood.
Speaking in the wake of a disappointing 35-point loss to the Kangaroos in Hobart on Saturday that saw his team concede 92 points from turnovers, Hardwick was in no mood to make excuses for his side's sub-standard performance.
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"We've just got to take stock, look at the tape, find out guys playing at our VFL level, which had a good win today, who can take us forward," he said.
"The inconsistency of performance of some of our players is not good enough. We've got to find players that are prepared to put their hand up and play the Richmond way.
"I'll still back all of my players in. At stages they can play better than what they have today, there's no doubt about that, but we also have to be looking forward to those players who are prepared to play how we want to play, take the game on and play at a standard that's acceptable at AFL level.
"We've just got to make sure we continue to blood those players and get them into the side."
Having seen his side concede seven goals in the third term through a mixture of ill-discipline, poor disposal and costly turnovers, Hardwick savaged his side's poor concentration and inconsistency following the 35-point defeat.
"It's a hard one to fathom," he said.
"You look at it, but at the end of the day it comes down a to a 15-minute block in the third quarter.
"They had nine inside entries for the quarter and they kicked 7.2. Some of them from our horrible turnovers and the game is all of a sudden out of reach. Turnovers. They were horrible turnovers you can't defend."
Despite being one of the better Richmond players on the day, midfielder Dustin Martin was singled out by Hardwick for twice conceding possession and goals to the Kangaroos.
Click here to watch Damien Hardwick's full post-match media conference
"Dustin Martin did some really good things, gets two balls and kicks them across goals, too long a switch, ball gets shut down and our defenders can't defend that. It just goes straight through the sticks, you might as well line up at the centre bounce," Hardwick said.
"It's not what we ask him to do, it's not what he normally does, and unfortunately if you don't play the team structure you get kicked in the backside."
With Ben Griffiths in doubt following a concussion suffered during the first quarter on Saturday, Hardwick mentioned maligned tall forward Ty Vickery as one player that may be recalled in a bid to bolster a struggling forward set-up.
"Ty brings some things to the table that we like and he also has some areas he needs to improve," he said.
"We've got to continue to delve with those, continue to develop them and get them better."
