Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has strongly backed mature-age recruit Robbie Tarrant to turn his form around following a slightly below-par start at his new club.

The veteran key defender, traded to the Tigers from North Melbourne last October, played the first six games of this season at senior level, was rested for the West Coast game in Perth, and has spent the past couple of rounds in the VFL.

An on-going hip issue has hampered Tarrant so far in his quest to produce his best football for the Tigers, but Hardwick is adamant that he still has plenty to offer.

“Robbie will be in the selection frame this week,” Hardwick said.

“He’s come into a different system . . . he’s come from a North Melbourne system, which is a little bit different to ours, so there’s things that he had to pick up. He went back (to the VFL) and worked on a couple of those on the weekend.

“But he’s well and truly in our plans, no question.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time.

“I recounted the story many years ago when I went from Essendon to Port, it took me some time to gel into the side.  And he’s no different.

“He’s very important to the way we play the game. He’s a very good player, he’s just not probably at his best with understanding our system. But it’s not too far away . . .

“He’s going to be well worth the investment that we’ve put in him.”