Red-hot forward Jack Riewoldt has the Tigers faithful excited, but his AFL coach Damien Hardwick admits he can't do it all on his own.

Riewoldt's six goals against St Kilda on Friday night gave him 20 from the past four games and 35 for the season, which is a great return from a forward in the bottom side with the least-effective attack.

But as good as Riewoldt was against the strong Saints defence, Richmond had little other presence in attack, as Andrew Collins (two) was the only other goal scorer in the Tigers' 8.11 (59) to 14.13 (97) defeat.

Hardwick admitted Richmond would struggle so long as they were reliant on Riewoldt for the vast bulk of their scoring.

"Our forward line is going to be our achilles heel for the time being," he said.

"Jack to his credit was outstanding and I thought he played on some quality opposition in Sam Fisher and (Jason Blake) and he looked very, very good.

"From a confidence point of view there's no doubt (that will increase), especially against St Kilda, they are a premier defensive unit.

"What we've got to do is develop that forward line so we can get him some help down there.

"It was an outstanding individual effort, but he needs some help down there, there's no doubt."

Hardwick said until Richmond developed another big forward, opposition defenders could afford to gang up on Riewoldt to curb his impact.

He was hopeful youngster Ben Griffiths could return from injury against West Coast on Sunday week to provide the Tigers with another big body in attack.

"As harsh as it is they (opposition backlines) can double-team and triple-team Jack at the moment, so he'll (Griffiths) come back in next week and help us out in that area," Hardwick said.

While the Tigers were staring at a huge defeat early in the game, their midfield battled hard against St Kilda's stars.

"I thought (Trent) Cotchin worked his way in ... Dustin Martin had another eight clearances and competed really well and (Shane) Tuck was good also," Hardwick said.

"We won the stoppages relatively easy but (had) lots of turnovers.

"It was pleasing from those guys point of view to generate some ball inside 50, but just not enough to get us over the line."

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