DAMIEN Hardwick was nursing a sore right fist after Richmond's "poor" performance on Saturday at the MCG, despite watching his side record a hard-fought 25-point win over the Brisbane Lions.
The Tigers coach quipped he was the club's only injury concern after the match, banging his hand down on the table in frustration as his side showed too much of an inclination to handball its way out of trouble.
Richmond registered 227 handballs and 211 kicks in their victory over the Lions, a kick-to-handball ratio which did not please the Tigers coach.
"All credit to Brisbane, they came to play, but I thought we were poor today," Hardwick said in his post-match press conference.
"We overused the ball by hand which was really disappointing. I don't think we played anyway near the standard that we require."
At one stage in the game, the Tigers mustered 10 handballs in the back half before eventually moving the ball forward.
The Tiger army, clearly fed up with the players' indecision, made their point known with a chorus of Bronx cheers that rang around the MCG.
Hardwick was sympathetic to the fans’ point of view.
"We constantly gave the ball to a guy who was in a worse position, which was one of the things that you speak about as a coach and it's hard to get yourself out of at times," he said.
"I started jeering, as well, when we kicked the ball forward."
The decision-making and skill execution may not have been at the optimum level, but the Tigers' efforts certainly were.
In fact, the game’s GPS data showed that Richmond's players had run themselves into the ground, a point of concern for Hardwick.
"Our GPS was through the roof in the first half – our high intensity running was right up. We looked out on our feet in the last quarter," Hardwick said.
The Tigers allowed seven inside-50 entries to nil in first half of the final term, as the Lions made them earn their victory.
With a high-powered running opponent in Port Adelaide looming as the Tigers' next assignment, Hardwick said it would be an area that would be looked at this week.
"We'll taper our training off this week to make sure we freshen up," he said.
In the same game that the Lions' key forward struggles were magnified, up the other end of the ground Tiger Ty Vickery proved to be the difference.
After being shunted in and out of the side for much of this year, the Richmond big man kicked an equal career-high four goals to reveal his importance to the Tigers.
"He (Vickery) muffed a few chances. I thought he could be a little bit better at the ball. He probably went looking for the body of his opponent a bit too much, instead of jumping at the ball," Hardwick said.
"I thought he was good, but I still think he can be a lot better.
"He's worked incredibly hard on the training track which is pleasing from his point of view to get some reward for effort.”
