Hardwick was true to his word following the 103-point defeat to the Blues at the MCG, binning the post-match review with his team as promised and encouraging all at the club to put it out of their minds.
He believes his players are ready to respond, describing the mood at training this week as upbeat ahead of Saturday night's MCG encounter.
"The one thing I would say about our group is they're very vibrant," Hardwick said.
"You wouldn't know we've come off a resounding loss, and that's something we try to pride ourselves on.
"We try to take away the emotion of the ups and downs of our season.
"We understand where we're at, but we certainly know where we're going. There's going to be bumps along the way, and last week was one of those."
The Tigers have lost ruckman Andrew Browne with a hip injury, with Tyrone Vickery to shoulder the ruck load and key position duo Ben Griffiths and Jayden Post to pinch-hit.
Meanwhile, the Bombers expect the Tigers to be breathing fire on Saturday night.
The Bombers are trying to keep a lid on celebrations after upsetting Geelong last weekend.
They will also have to contend with an ordinary record at the MCG and a poor recent record against the Tigers.
And they are smarting from their round-nine loss to the Tigers, which started a four-match slump for the high-flying side.
Bombers' coach James Hird says he is anxious the players atone for their performance earlier in the season and does not believe they will still be carried away with their defeat of the previously-unbeaten Cats.
"I hope not," he said.
"We've just basically trained hard this week and prepared for Richmond who caused us a lot of troubles last time and beat us quite convincingly.
"It's a very important game for both teams but we're very keen to play Richmond again and give a much better account of ourselves than we did last time."
Hird feels he has moved to counter the Bombers' difficulty in the past with the wide open spaces of the MCG.
"The team this week has got a lot more running power than we've had in the past," he said.
"You need a good spread of inside players and guys who can run and create at the MCG - that's why it's such a great ground, because it's got something for everyone.
"The MCG is probably the hardest ground to defend in the AFL because of its width, which makes it hard to cover all spaces."
Despite the Bombers' dramatic return to form, he refuses to speculate on the finals.
"It's not something we've been thinking about," Hird said.
"The way the guys played at the weekend was a real positive for our supporters and an affirmation of what we're doing but it's not the be-all and the end-all of what we're doing.
"If finals come along, they do - we're six-and-a-half wins and nine games to go so anything can happen."
- AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, richmond-3121 First posted July 8, 2011 15:38:00
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