Richmond's inaugural AFLW coach Tom Hunter is confident the fledgling outfit is heading in the right direction as they head to Wagga to take on GWS Giants on Saturday.
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The Tigers are still chasing their first victory four rounds into the season but Hunter says their improvement has been steady, including matching Geelong in all but the second quarter last week.
"We've prepared every week to get the opportunity to win, but it's more that we probably showed last week, when we played our way for longer, what the results could look like," Hunter said.
"You take the second quarter away and I think the scoreboard's in our favour. So we just want to try to put four quarters of our football together and the result will take care of itself."
Hunter says his side has defended well in patches and attacked the game well in patches but the consistency in their game is improving,, and those patches are growing longer, particularly in the last two weeks.
However the Tigers will be without captain Katie Brennan and forward Courtney Wakefield (three goals last week) against GWS.
"It does (impact on us). Court had a good week last week but I thought the way she got the ball was what we coached during the week. It wasn't Court taking a really strong pack mark against three of our players. The way we moved the ball set her up," Hunter said.
Brennan's leadership will be missed but the Tigers are comfortable they have depth in their inclusions.
"Lauren Tesoriero coming back in provides that hard edge around the contest. (Forward) Tayla Stahl is another one who might only say a few words but the way she plays will cover off what Katie does around half-forward," Hunter said.
"Kate Dempsey despite playing her first AFLW game, she has played a lot of footy for Richmond in the VFLW and knows what the requirement is.
"So we think they're big losses with our outs but we're pretty happy to get those three girls into our side."
Richmond pinpoint GWS Giants' midfield, led by Riverina's Alyce Parker, as the key to the opposition and the area they most need to shut down.
But Tigers' outside midfielder Monique Conti has created some waves with her performances, particularly last week with 28 touches in the loss to Geelong, and a berth in the AFLW Team of the Week.
Hunter said he's looking forward to bringing the team to Wagga and hoping for a big performance from local footballer Rebecca Miller.
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