RICHMOND'S "insipid" performance against Melbourne has left a sour taste in the players' mouths, but captain Trent Cotchin says the team needs to move on quickly if it is to get its season back on track against Geelong.
The 2-2 Tigers were slammed by coach Damien Hardwick on Friday night as "not tough enough" after losing the contested ball (161-153) and kicking just six goals in the shock loss to the Demons.
Cotchin said the players were still disappointed as they arrived at Punt Road Oval and prepared to review the match in detail on Monday, but he was hopeful the key to reviving the Tigers' fortunes was not complicated.
"I think it's just tidying up a few things we know we can do and in the past we've shown we're capable of it. It's just a matter of doing it consistently," he said.
"That's where we're at as group. Whether it changes straight away, whether it takes a week or two, it's just those constant behaviours that will make us a better group.
"You never want to disappoint your coach, especially on behaviours that we respect very highly.
"We'll challenge each other as a playing group, whether that be on the track or in the game next week, to make sure our performance is more consistent."
The Tigers have a tough month, starting against the Cats on Saturday before matches against North Melbourne (Blundstone Arena), Collingwood (MCG) and Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval).
While focusing on addressing its shortcomings, Cotchin said the team couldn't afford to dwell on Friday's result.
"I think the great thing about our group is we're pretty aware of whether we're disappointing or not. It comes back to us and how strong we want to be on each other," he said.
"We want to take it to the best teams and that's our challenge, to make sure every week we give ourselves an opportunity to win a game of footy.
"I think at times we show we're capable of it but there's too many times in between where it's not.
"We need to have a really positive week on the track. What happened on Friday night is in the past now. We'll review it accordingly today and make sure we're at our best on Saturday.
The Tigers will assess vice-captain Brett Deledio later this week to determine if he is capable of returning from a calf injury, but tall forward Ben Griffiths (calf) looks set to miss at least one match.
Debutant Nathan Drummond faces up to 12 months on the sidelines after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament and Cotchin said the 20-year-old would have plenty of support in his recovery.
"It's horrible to see a kid who's worked really hard ... play a quarter-and-half of footy and do a serious injury where it looks like he's going to miss a fair chunk of footy," the captain said.
"We've just got to help him find the positives in having an injury at such a young age and the lessons you can learn from that. He'll have a lot of support from us."
Gotta feel for Nathan Drummond who's being taken off the field with a knee injury on debut #AFLTigersDees http://t.co/L0X4eZtw8o
— AFL (@AFL) April 24, 2015