Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is delighted with the impact prized key-forward recruit Tom Lynch has already had as part of the Tigers’ line-up this season, and expects him to take his game to an even higher level in the coming weeks as his fitness levels continue to improve.

Lynch is making good progress in his recovery from the PCL injury that has hampered him since early last year.

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He’s kicked 22 goals so far in his debut season with Richmond and is ranked third in the Coleman Medal race, third in the competition for marks inside 50 and sixth for contested marks.

“We knew it was going to be a slow burn. This sort of injury that he’s coming back from is obviously quite significant and he’s still only training once a week,” Hardwick said.

“I think he’ll start to train twice, possibly just prior to the bye, so his form will improve again.

“What I’m seeing is he’s starting to get his leap back.

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“He’s jumping on the (marking) bag (at training) as hard as he has since he’s been here.

“We’re really looking forward to him playing his best footy from the middle to the back-end of the year.

“But his contribution thus far . . . without Tom we wouldn’t be sitting where we are.”