Richmond coach Terry Wallace concedes several of the Tigers' senior players face uncertain futures after the AFL club's woeful form in the past fortnight.

Wooden spooners in 2007, the Tigers had shown signs of improvement this year until their capitulations against Sydney and Adelaide in the past two rounds.

Their best patch of the season's first half came from round four onwards, after three experienced players - Greg Tivendale, Joel Bowden and Kayne Pettifer - exited the side that lost dismally to Collingwood in round three.

Wallace said after showing good form for VFL affiliate Coburg, those players had been granted the opportunity to "fight for their footy careers" in recent weeks.

But with their return to the senior side having coincided with another dip in the team's form, Wallace said the match committee needed to make a decision.

"The two levels, the levels at Coburg and the level at AFL, there is an enormous difference between the two and what you can do at one level you mightn't be able to do at another level," Wallace said.

"Did the dynamics of the side change at that stage (of their return)? It's probably fair to say that to some degree it did.

"What that means for those players, that's what we'll have a look at and we'll review."

Tivendale, in particular, had a terrible match against the Crows in his first game back in the senior side since round three and it is hard to imagine him receiving many more opportunities.

Bowden is likely to be given more grace, given his status as a two-time best and fairest and 242-game player.

But, after his recent reinvention as a forward, the pressure will be on with two of the club's young key forwards, Cleve Hughes and Jack Riewoldt, having kicked five and four goals respectively for Coburg on Sunday.

Wallace said other AFL clubs in rebuilding mode had taken a ruthless line with older players, but the Tigers had wanted to give their senior group a fair chance.

"I still believe that blokes that have been around a footy club for a period of time ought to be treated and handled in a way that allows them to fight for their footy careers and footy futures and that's the pathway that we decided to take," he said.

"Some of those guys played some really good football at the next level down so we gave them opportunity.

"What we have said is that after the last couple of performances the dynamics of the side needs to change."

Meanwhile, Wallace said he was not feeling any extra personal pressure, despite the Tigers' struggles in the fourth year of his five-year contract.

He pointed out that while Richmond had only one draw to show from seven matches against top eight clubs, they had won three out of four against bottom eight sides.

"We've got a full half of the season to go and that flips around in the second half of the year, where we play more sides outside the eight than inside," Wallace said.

"So there's still opportunities there and we've just got to keep our focus on what's important."

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