RICHMOND'S habit of slow starts to the season might be disappointing, but veteran Troy Chaplin says the Tigers are far from being in rebuilding mode.
The Tigers are 1-2 for the year and face a tough assignment against West Coast at Domain Stadium on Friday night.
"The last couple of years we have been slow, and it's disappointing that it has become a bit of a thing that's happening at the footy club," Chaplin said.
"In 2013 we started off well and then dropped some games and probably ended up 50/50, and then the year after we were behind the ledger by a long way, and then last year as well.
"It's something we can look at, but it's up to the players to bring their performance week in week out."
Coach Damien Hardwick's suggestion that the Tigers might need to take a step back to move forward raised a few eyebrows, but Chaplin said there was nothing sinister in the message – rather it was an appraisal of where the side sat.
"We're not rebuilding or anything like that, but the reality is we've got young guys coming in who have played less than 10 games, and at times you're going to have to take a little step back to go forward, and that's probably the area Dimma was getting at," Chaplin said.
Brett Deledio has been ruled out again this week but the Tigers are a chance to bring in Ivan Maric after he played around 75 per cent game time in the VFL at the weekend.
Deledio trained away from the group at Punt Road on Tuesday, running laps and kicking short distances, as well as doing some agility ladder work.
"I don't think I will be playing this week, unfortunately," Deledio told RSN927 on Tuesday.
"I'm certainly running really strongly and feeling as fit as I have for a long time.
"But I need to do more kicking at the moment and get myself right.
"Once I can kick flat-out on the run, I will be very comfortable and know I can come out there and perform my role."
Deledio injured himself at training a week before round one - about the same time he injured himself last year.
"I just said to the docs, next year I'm not training two weeks out from round one.
"This is two years in a row I've caused myself a bit of mischief."
Chris Yarran, who is still 4-6 weeks away from a return from a foot injury, jogged laps around the boundary with Dylan Grimes (hamstring) and Reece Conca (hamstring).
Chaplin, who only returned to the senior side for the Tigers' 26-point loss to the Crows at the weekend, said his side had hurt itself with shoddy skill execution recently.
"Our skill level has let us down. The last couple of weeks and on the weekend, Adelaide scored heavily off our turnovers," he said.
"The last five minutes (in games) we've let ourselves down with some situational decisions and leadership. We really should be 2-1 and in a better position, but the reality is we're 1-2 and we've got a tough task this week."
Chaplin said he was not worried at being overlooked at the selection table for the first two weeks of the season.
"I spoke to 'Dimma' a while ago, and we spoke about that I might play 10 games, 15 games, or I might play every game.
"There's no use me whingeing about it or anything like that. It's about knowing the position you're in and then you can manage how you react to it, and for me it's about putting time into our developing players in the backline."
