Richmond's Reece Conca will live and learn from the selfish act which cost him a two-game suspension for striking, coach Damien Hardwick says.
Conca is the second Richmond player in two rounds to be banned, after Ty Vickery's king-hit on West Coast's Dean Cox cost the Tigers' ruckman a four-match AFL suspension.
"We had a chat to Reece," Hardwick told reporters on Thursday.
"We like our players to play hard and tough but that was above and beyond.
"He's really disappointed with his actions, as are we. We've got a really good player sitting in the stands for two weeks."
Hardwick says Conca, 21, is a quality kid.
"He stepped outside the bounds (of acceptable conduct). He knows that, we know that, and we're really disappointed he decided to do that," Hardwick said.
"It was really selfish.
"He'll get better, he'll learn from it. You live and learn.
"More importantly, we're probably lucky Greater Western Sydney's Devon Smith didn't cop a nasty injury from it."
The mood is one of optimism at Tigerland, as Richmond attempt to extend their five-game winning streak by upseting the seventh-placed Essendon at the MCG on Friday night.
The Tigers have beaten only one top-eight side in their five-match run, which was the struggling Port Adelaide.
However Hardwick is confident the Tigers are going along OK.
Richmond are two games outside the top eight and their previous meeting against the Bombers in round 11 resulted in a 50-point win to Essendon.
Asked if Richmond's five-nil run of form flattered the Tigers, Hardwick said: "No I think our numbers suggest otherwise.
"A lot of our key-performance indicators that a lot of clubs go by are right up there," he said.
Hardwick says regaining key players from injury has been crucial, as well as a lift in training standards.
"We're probably in a lot better form than we were earlier in the year with regard to this game," Hardwick said.
"Essendon are a really good side. They've handed themselves pretty well against Sydney which is a tough ask at the best of times."
Hardwick says the Tigers are putting their finals' hopes to one side.
"A lot of things have got to to right but it's still a mathematical chance," he said.
"The season's not finished for us."
Share
