Although Richmond will go into Saturday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium as a warm favourite, coach Damien Hardwick is anticipating a tough battle for his team.

The Tigers have lost four of their past five games against the Bulldogs, with their only success during that time being in the final home-and-away round last season, when they scraped home by three points at the MCG.

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They haven’t beaten the Dogs at Marvel Stadium since Round 13 of the 2013 season.

“They’ve troubled most sides (in 2019), I reckon. They’re always in the game,” Hardwick said.

“I look at them at their best and they’re a scary side. They do things really well . . .

“The scoreboard hasn’t gone their way, but we look at them and the things that they’re doing, there’s a lot going right.

“There’s just a couple of pieces in their tool kit that aren’t working that well at the moment, but they could quite easily be fixed.

“We understand this is a really good side capable of playing some really good footy . . . We’d be thinking the Bulldogs at their best.”