RICHMOND will resist trying to tag early Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos in its crunch clash against Collingwood on Friday night.

Daicos is the talk of the town after the 20-year-old's blistering beginning to his second season with Tigers coach Damien Hardwick saying on Thursday he couldn't recall a better career start.

Coaching his 300th AFL game at the Tigers, Hardwick has his hands full with injuries to key men Dustin Martin, Jacob Hopper and Jayden Short, while Nathan Broad is suspended.

In some welcome news for the club, Hardwick expects superstar Martin, who has hamstring awareness, to only sit out one game while Hopper's injury was unrelated to his history of knee trouble.

Hardwick said Richmond would likely rely on a system rather than a tag to stop Daicos at the MCG.

"He's a very good player, but Collingwood have got a lot of very good players so we generally rely on the system to take care of it," Hardwick told reporters.

"We'll have contingencies and try and manage him as best we can - he's going to get the ball, no question, so, do we allow him to play his game and try and manage it and try and exploit him the other way? Probably."

Hardwick likened the early impact of Daicos to a young Chris Judd starting out his career at West Coast.

On the back of his two dominant performances this year Daicos is equal Brownlow Medal favourite with Demon Clayton Oliver and Carlton's Patrick Cripps.

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"Back when I played Chris Judd came in with the same sort of pedigree," Hardwick recalled.

"He played against us when I was playing at Port and kicked four (goals) in a game, destroyed us.

"I don't think I've seen a better first year from any player and then you think, surely he couldn't back it up, but he seems to have got better again."

While Collingwood are unbeaten, Richmond has opened with a draw and a win.

Magpies coach Craig McRae and his assistant Justin Leppitsch have both spent time as assistants under Hardwick, who said they knew each other's game style well.

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"It's whose system stands up better, and who brings great intent," he said.

"We are both territory sides, want to try and get the game played in our half whoever does that will obviously come out on top.

"We probably have got an understanding of how they're trying to move the ball, what they're trying to do with the ball but it's easy to see that and trying to stop that is the next challenge."