Damien Hardwick says the Tigers only have themselves to blame for the "hole" they find themselves in with one win from three games and a tough run of matches to come.

But, the Richmond coach remains upbeat the Tigers' "best football" – on display for much of the second half in their two-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday – can contend with the competition's better sides.

The Tigers have now lost to Gold Coast and the Dogs, with their only win coming last Thursday night against Carlton.

Next Friday night they face Collingwood at the MCG before copping the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba – a ground they do have a good recent record at – and Hawthorn and Geelong before their round eight bye.

"It would have been better to go in [to the Collingwood game] in better circumstances but we know our best footy is capable of beating some very good sides," Hardwick said.

"We've just got to make sure we maintain that consistency for longer periods.

"A half hour last week, a half hour this week … we've just got to make sure we eradicate those and get ourselves out of the spot we've put ourselves in.

"We've only got ourselves to blame and we've got get ourselves out of it playing some of our best footy.

"It's just a challenge. Obviously it's a brutal industry our game and the season is going to be as close as we've seen for a long period of time.

"You've got to be playing at your best all the time."

The low-possession, highly contested game saw the Bulldogs lead by 37 points at half time before the Tigers started winning the contested possessions and ascended at the stoppages.

"Probably the thing that killed us was our second quarter that was nothing short of shocking," Hardwick said.

"We had one really, really poor quarter of footy and made a couple of errors with our ball movement that actually gifted them some goals so we've just got to take stock and readjust and get our season up and going again."

Young defender Nick Vlastuin will be monitored this week after being subbed off with concussion in the first half following a collision with Dylan Grimes.

Hardwick said they were hopeful of regaining midfielder Brett Deledio to face the Pies.

"He's got an aggravation of his ankle/achilles so we'll see how that goes," he said.

"It's a little bit tricky at stages but he's a good player and we've got to make sure he's right for the remainder of the year."