Faced with calls for his head, Richmond coach Danny Frawley apologised for the team's performance on the weekend and pledged a better effort for the rest of the season.

Frawley's chances of seeing out his contract to the end of 2004 took a hammer blow on the weekend when his side was trounced by 80 points by fellow struggler St Kilda.

Normally reticent to speak to the media during the week until the eve of the game, Frawley attempted to nip in the bud heightening speculation about his tenure.

"We realise it was totally unacceptable and we wanted to make sure supporters and members knew from the coach down to the bootstudder that it was not good enough," Frawley said.

"The only positive out of the game on Saturday night was we have three weeks to rectify that.

"All we can do is look forward and stick together as much as we can."

Tigers acting captain Matthew Richardson - often the first scapegoat for his team's shortcomings - accepted that he and Frawley must be chief among those accepting blame.

"Everyone has to lift their performance, starting from the top, so there is a chance this week to do it," Richardson said.

"We've got pride in our performance and the boys want to make it up to supporters and the people that come to watch us week in, week out.

"We realise it was a poor performance on Saturday night but we have got three weeks to get something out of."

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