"We've had a few of those during the year, but all we can do is keep taking positives out of it. We had a lot of young guys playing and every game they play they're only going to improve," Hayden said after Saturday’s match.
"Guys like Rhys Palmer in his first season, Garrick Ibbotson is starting to play well and Chris Mayne as well; they're only going to benefit from this as long as the senior guys keep leading them down the right track we're going to be way better next year.
"We've been close in games for a lot of the year and who knows how it would have turned out if we had gotten over the line in a few of those; it could have been a whole different season."
Hayden was arguably the best player on the ground against Richmond with 25 possessions and 12 marks playing as a loose man in defence which is a fitting reward as he returns to full fitness from his latest hamstring injury.
"For me it has been a bit of an up-and-down season with injuries and it is difficult to come back from them and get your fitness back up," he said.
"I put in a good pre-season and looked forward to a good season, but when the injuries come it does put you on the back foot. I'm just looking forward to finishing off well and concentrating on being fully fit when pre-season starts again."
