Richmond has endured a tough injury run across the first four months of the season, but Tom Lynch is on track to return for next Saturday night's 'Stealth Night at the 'G' clash against Carlton.

Adem Yze got a response from his troops after the disappointing performance against North Melbourne last Sunday, but it wasn't enough to trouble Collingwood for long enough at the MCG on Saturday.   

The Tigers registered 51 inside-50s against the Magpies, but without veteran star Lynch, plus young key forward trio Jonty Faull, Harry Armstrong or Tom Sims, Richmond struggled to impact the scoreboard, only converting 11 goals.

"Lynchy had a terrific session today, so I think he's seeing the surgeon early this week to make sure he ticks all the boxes so that there's no risk with that," Yze told reporters after the 34-point loss to the Pies. 

"But physically, apart from his throat, he's fine. So if he gets the approval from the surgeon he will be available. 

"[Armstrong] might play managed minutes at VFL which is really important for our footy club. So for him to get back out there playing some minutes and then obviously after that be available for AFL. Our front end will look a lot different when those two are available. 

"I think Sam [Lalor] is still a couple of weeks away. He'll start to integrate into training, but he's probably still another week or two away."

Taj Hotton sent a scare through the Richmond camp when he copped a knock and came off the ground, but the 2024 first-round pick returned and finished with 17 disposals and seven tackles in his second game of the season after recovering from a stress reaction in his hip.

"He's fine. He copped a knee on knee, a bit of a corkie just above his knee. So for him to push through that was great," Yze said.

Yze sat in the exact same seat after last Sunday's loss to the Roos and expressed his frustration at the performance. Six days later, he was happy with the response early and the fight but said the second quarter cost them, as did the turnover game where Collingwood registered 13.13.

"We just went through that. We responded in the right way. Our first quarter was really strong, we just didn't capitalise on our entries, and then we lost our way in the second quarter," Yze said.

"It's been a bit of a theme against the more experienced teams – all the teams closer to the top of the ladder where we just fall away after one quarter – so they beat us by 30-odd points in that quarter, six goals to one, and that ends up being the margin for the game.

"Our turnovers by the end of the game they kicked 91 points from turnover, but we can't take away the flair; we want to play with speed, and we played the right way today with the ball. 

"It was just some skill execution and some decisions from our back end that we probably just gift them some goals."