RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is adamant Sunday night's 76-point thumping at the hands of premiership favourite Adelaide isn't a true reflection of his side's progress.
As they have done with every team they have played this season, the Crows tore the Tigers apart with their slick ball movement and transition out of defence.
The Tigers have just six days to regroup ahead of another tough encounter with reigning premiers, the Western Bulldogs, at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
"We're a lot better than what we displayed tonight," Hardwick said.
"Adelaide probably played, apart from that first quarter, a complete brand of football that showed us a lesson.
"But it also shows us a way forward, which in a funny way you're half excited to give them the next chance to make sure we give our fans a good crack against the Bulldogs."
Five talking points: Adelaide v Richmond
The Tigers have enjoyed an impressive start to the season with five straight wins to give their fans plenty of hope.
Their victory over poor travellers West Coast at the MCG was their only win against a team that made the finals last year.
The Tigers suffered a harsh reality check in front of a crowd of more than 51,000 people at Adelaide Oval against a team Hardwick rated as the best in the competition.
"We had a lot of passengers today," Hardwick said.
"There's no worse feeling as a coach than when you start throwing magnets around.
"You're trying to put belief in your players, but then you feel you need to try something to stimulate something.
"You know as soon as that starts to happen, you go to A, B, C, D, E, F, G, but the reality is, the die is cast a lot of these times if you're not getting your hand on the ball."
The Tigers burst out of the gates and took a nine-point lead into quarter-time.
But the Crows gained the momentum through an improved work-rate and smashed the Tigers at the contest.
"The reality is we're 5-1 now," Hardwick said.
"We've played some pretty good footy over the first five to six weeks of the season.
"We've got some reasonable performances at VFL level so we'll be looking there to get some players that are in some good form to play.
"We can't afford to have players play like they did tonight for a sustained period.
"We've been fortunate at this stage we haven't had the need to call upon our VFL players, but we'll certainly have a look and see what presents itself this week."
Hardwick singled out skipper Trent Cotchin for praise as he racked up 26 possessions, including 15 contested, to go with nine tackles.
