Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said he was hopeful Richmond's disappointing 44-point loss to Collingwood on Thursday night will provide the "kick in the backside" it needs to kickstart a slow opening to the year.

The Tigers were outbattled by the Pies at the MCG, going down by more than seven goals after recording their lowest tackle count in more than three years during the defeat.

It was one of a number of statistical categories where the Tigers were well beaten throughout the night, with Hardwick describing the loss as an "un-Richmond-like" performance.

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The 2017 premiers also finished -23 in contested ball and -154 in uncontested ball, with Hardwick putting the heat on his players to respond ahead of next week's interstate trip to face GWS.

"We look back to round two last year and we got obliterated by Adelaide," Hardwick said.

"You learn most from your losses, so I'd rather get that kick in the backside now so we can get to work and start to get back to the Richmond style of footy that we know and love.

"It certainly wasn't there tonight, which is incredibly disappointing.

"With all of the people that showed up, we put in a performance that was un-Richmond-like."