Tigers look to Deledio to lift intensity

Richmond defender Bachar Houli says his side must improve its attitude and that Brett Deledio's return from injury will help against the Lions

Bachar Houli hand balls for Richmond

Richmond defender Bachar Houli says his AFL side lacked the right attitude against the Bulldogs. (AAP)

Richmond are hoping the return of star midfielder Brett Deledio gives them the grunt they missed in their surprise loss to the Western Bulldogs.

The Tigers turned in a limp performance in a 19-point defeat, which defender Bachar Houli put down to their poor attitude.

But Houli said the team also missed Deledio, who was suspended but would have missed anyway with a calf injury.

A dual best and fairest winner, the durable Deledio has proved crucial to the Tigers' fortunes.

He's only missed five games since 2007, with Richmond losing four of those.

He and fellow midfielder Shane Edwards, who also has a calf problem, are both hopeful of playing against Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The pair were on light duties at training on Tuesday, with Deledio leaving the track early.

But both are expected to train fully on Thursday.

"They bring a great intensity to the game, they're hard at the footy, they're great when it comes to second, third efforts, we lacked that a little bit at the weekend," Houli said.

Houli said his team's lack of intensity and poor attitude were pin-pointed in their match review but he was confident there wouldn't be a repeat against the Lions, who are coming off a 82-point drubbing by the Kangaroos.

Houli said the team failed to learn from early errors, but dismissed the idea the Tigers lacked strong on-field leadership.

"It's about rectifying our mistakes earlier and not following up with the same mistakes," he said.

"We're going to move forward, draw a line in the sand and not make the same mistakes."

Meanwhile, utility Ricky Petterd could miss up to three months after undergoing foot surgery, while first-year onballer Kane Lambert is set to have shoulder surgery later this week.

Scans after Petterd's first game of the season revealed a serious foot injury.

"He's got what's called a lisfranc injury and he's going to miss some time out of the game," physical performance manager Peter Burge told the Richmond website.

Lambert suffered the shoulder injury in the third quarter of his AFL debut and is likely to be sidelined for eight weeks.

"He's got a grade three AC joint, which is going to require a little bit of surgery unfortunately," Burge said.

"He was pretty sore, but we did what we could to get him back out there because we had a few guys that were down."


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