David Astbury will lead Richmond's defence of Collingwood spearhead Travis Cloke on Friday night but will need strong support from his midfield teammates, says Damien Hardwick. 

While Cloke has lacked influence so far this season, he kicked three goals against the Tigers in a losing Magpie outfit in the pre-season and seven in round four last year. 

With Alex Rance to miss possibly another two matches with a foot injury, Astbury will be called upon to mind Cloke with the help of fellow backman Troy Chaplin. 

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"David did a terrific job on him up at Wangaratta [in February]," Hardwick said on Thursday. 

"Dave has been in terrific form and Troy Chaplin will go through him at various stages also, but the thing is with Travis, a lot of it depends on the ball use up forward.

"If we have enough pressure on the ball the delivery's not going to be good, because if that entry level ball is good, he's going to beat the majority of his opponents.

"It's really important the players up the field put adequate pressure on the disposals inside 50." 

The Collingwood forward has been goalless in two of the first three games but Hardwick didn't subscribe to him getting a poor run from the umpires as has been perceived. 

"He's a fantastic player and a guy I'd love to have on our side," he said. 

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"The thing you see most key forwards at this time of year is they do struggle a little bit from a goal tally point of view, the defenders are up and about.

"I think the defenders have been playing incredibly fair over the course of the first three rounds and we hope that tradition continues."

Vice-captain Brett Deledio will be sidelined for up to a month as he battles achilles soreness he has managed in the past two pre-seasons. 

Hardwick said Deledio's history with the complaint made them confident they knew how to treat it, but conceded he was a week-to-week prospect. 

"We don't know whether it's going to be a week or it's going to be four weeks," Hardwick said. 

"They're very sensitive in nature, the achilles, so we've just got to work our way through a strength and conditioning program and see how it pans out.

"We feel he's turned a corner; that still doesn't mean he's any closer to playing next week.

"We're not going to put him in any adverse risky situations to get him back on track, so when he's ready he's ready to play."

Shaun Hampson has pressed his case for selection by training on Wednesday before a light session on Thursday. 

He missed last Saturday's loss to the Western Bulldogs with a knee problem.