Richmond VFL coach Jack Madgen has confidence ahead of Round 1's clash with the Southport Sharks, with key learnings coming from the fourth practice match of the pre-season last week.

The Tigers went down by seven points to Carlton in the fourth and final practice match, with all focus now on this Saturday's season opener against the Sharks at Kinetic Stadium in Frankston.

"It was definitely a tale of two halves. I felt like our contest was very strong in the first half and we set up the rest of our game off that," Madgen said post game.

"Unfortunately, that dropped away in the second half and played into their game."

But the new VFL coach knows that a solid foundation has been laid ahead of a promising season, his first as VFL coach.

"Last week against Casey [our game plan] looked really strong. And coming up against a fair few AFL-listed players from Carlton, and some really good ones, it was a good challenge for our relatively young group," Madgen said.

"I'm loving the trajectory that we're on. We're trying to play the Richmond way and display those Richmond man behaviours, which is really pleasing.

"The challenge is being able to do that when the momentum of the game isn't going your way, so [it's learning] to play the right way in those circumstances."

Richmond kicks off its 2026 VFL campaign against Southport at Kinetic Stadium, Frankston, on Saturday from 10am (AEDT).