Despite sitting 16th on the ladder after seven rounds and riding a five-game losing streak, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has refused to write off season 2023.
Round seven's 11.6 (72) to 6.12 (48) loss to Gold Coast sees the Tigers at the lowest spot they've been since round 14, 2014 when they also sat in 16th place with three wins from 13 starts.
TIGERS v SUNS Full match coverage and stats
However, the following week was the start of a nine-game run of wins that took them into finals in the most unexpected of resurrections.
"I'm the eternal optimist," Hardwick said after Sunday's game.
"I still believe our best is good enough. But the fact of the matter is we're a long way off that at the moment and we have to figure out how the hell we get back to what we want to be."
Sunday's loss wasn't a case of going down in a hard-fought, high-quality encounter though, giving Hardwick no chance to make excuses for his team.
"It wasn't a great game of footy, let's put it that way," he conceded.
"We're left ruing a loss that was really hard to watch.
"We've got some emerging talent we're excited by and we're missing some experience, but the fact of the matter is we've just got to be better, full stop."
While the result puts Richmond's season in dire straits, it has kept Gold Coast's chances of a maiden finals series alive, with coach Stuart Dew sure his side is capable of winning any contest.
"We're confident of where we can get to and the style of footy we can play against all opposition," Dew said post-match.
A four-goal return from Ben King after five goals last week had the coach smiling as the talented full-forward continues to build form after missing all of 2022 due to a serious knee injury.
"He's going well, isn’t he?", Dew said.
"His workload's far superior to what it was two years ago and I think he's got different elements to his game now."
The Suns will be keen to win three games in a row but will have their work cut out against Melbourne on the Gold Coast next Saturday, while Richmond will be desperate to get back on the winners list against West Coast at the MCG.
