A shattered Damien Hardwick has conceded his Richmond outfit is not the same one that played in a final just eight months ago.

Following the loss to Melbourne, The Tigers fell to 16th position on the ladder with two wins from eight games so far in 2014. 

"It's disappointing to me, it's disappointing to the players - more importantly, it's disappointing to our fans,” Hardwick said in his post-match press conference. 

"We have to make sure we take some steps and get our game back up and going.

"Unfortunately I've been saying this for six or seven weeks - I'm sick of talking about it."

He was then asked if the situation was exasperating, or frustrating.

He sighed and responded with, "Yeah, you've got no idea."

Captain Trent Cotchin, who Hardwick admitted probably shouldn't have played after quarter-time because of an ankle injury he needed re-strapped in the second half, said the players didn't shy away from pre-season expectations.

"We let ourselves down in a few areas we'll have to review quite closely," Cotchin said.

"Whether or not it's putting guys on notice or just coming together as a group and making sure we're prepared as best we can be for next week.

"Without looking at the game it's hard to see but there's times, me included, where we need to win our one-on-one contests and we let ourselves down.

"We'll do some work on that this week at training and make sure it doesn't happen on a consistent basis."

Cotchin could barely run by the game's end, with Hardwick conceding he was in doubt for Saturday's clash with Greater Western Sydney.

"To his credit he fought it out, that's the type of kid he is - we need a few more like him," Hardwick said.

The Tigers will turn to the VFL for fresh personnel, but Hardwick said ruckman Ivan Maric would likely need another two games after his return on Saturday.

While the coach won't publically draw a line through the season yet, his demeanour suggested he knows the enormity of the task ahead of them if they're to repeat last year's September berth.

"(It's) incredibly disappointing - one, from a seasonal point of view, but then after the death of an icon of our footy club, to dish up that kind of performance was really disappointing," he said.

"We know what's happening - at the bookends, in essence, we're losing the contested ball.

"It was a strength of ours last year and for whatever reason, it's not working this year.

"Funnily enough though today, we lost through the middle as well.

"People will say the emotion got to us, but emotion doesn't come into winning one-on-one contests. 

"That's just whether you want it as compared to the bloke beside you. 

"Unfortunately, they wanted it a lot more than us today."