RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has praised his club's leaders for the Tigers' turnaround in form, which has seen them notch three consecutive wins after a rough start to the year.
The Tigers beat Essendon by 13 points in Saturday night's Dreamtime at the 'G clash, which followed strong victories over Collingwood in round seven and Port Adelaide last week.
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Hardwick said he challenged captain Trent Cotchin, star Brett Deledio and ruckman Ivan Maric at half-time against the Bombers for more of an influence at stoppages in the second half. Their ability to even up in the key areas was the impetus for an important, if not scrappy, win.
"It's a great sign for our leaders to stand up. They're playing good consistent football for a longer period of time which is really important for a side pushing forward," Hardwick said.
"For us they're good wins, but they're not pretty wins. But it's good to win ugly."
He said criticism of the club's leadership group in recent times, particularly in their 2-4 start to the season, was unfair given the group of senior players had barely been in the same team through fitness concerns.
The Tigers have won four of five games Deledio has played, and they lost three of four when he was missing with an Achilles injury.
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Hardwick noted his versatility as an important piece of the Tigers' mix, but said the availability of their senior players made for a more settled Richmond line-up.
"It's no coincidence that they're all of a sudden all in the same playing together that we start to win some footy games. And [it's] the same as last year (when the Tigers won the final nine games of the home and away season to push into the finals). They're really important players to us," he said.
"They give us good structure, they give us good leadership on the ground, and they're improving week by week."
Moving into that zone as one of the club's most important players is Brandon Ellis, who gathered 33 disposals and seven rebound-50s in a dominant display.
He was awarded the Yiooken Medal as the best player in the annual Dreamtime game, and Hardwick said the club was pleased with the first-round draft pick's growth.
"He's probably a player who's found what works for him, with regard to his work rate," he said.
"He covers an enormous amount of ground. His contested ball work has dramatically improved and we've been really pleased with that. He's growing into the player we thought he'd be."
The Tigers face perhaps their biggest challenge of the year next Friday night, when they travel to Perth to tackle the unbeaten Dockers at Domain Stadium.
They will take some confidence with them after winning their past two encounters at the ground (against West Coast in 2013 and 2014) and may welcome back forward Ty Vickery from his leg injury.
"It's exciting … it gives us a really good opportunity to see where we're at. They're a quality side obviously and they're very hard to beat at home, but we play well there and we travel well so we're looking forward to the challenge," Hardwick said.
