Richmond coach Damien Hardwick claims his star forward Jack Riewoldt is carrying an injury, but the coach doesn't know what it is.

In the same month that Collingwood sent reigning club champion Dane Swan to Arizona for a two-week training camp to help him recover from what coach Mick Malthouse labelled general soreness, Hardwick says Riewoldt is simply playing sore, and that's that.

Last year's Coleman Medallist kicked 1.3 for a season's tally of 41 goals as Richmond lost by Melbourne by 27 points in Saturday's round-14 AFL clash at the MCG.

Riewoldt, 22, appeared slightly restricted in his movements and gathered 13 possessions with five marks, lowering his colours to Melbourne defender James Frawley.

Triple M radio commentator Garry Lyon speculated during the match that he had heard the high-leaping Tasmanian might have suffered a knock to the hip during the week, but Hardwick couldn't shed any light on Riewoldt's situation.

"He takes the field so he's okay," Hardwick told his post-match media conference.

"He's battling like most players. They're all battling injuries. Jack's no different."

Asked about the nature of the injury, Hardwick said: "I don't know."

"I'm not going to ... (say)," he added.

"Players play sore. I don't think there's a more demanding sport in the world than what we play.

"Guys were out on their feet in the last quarter. Round 14 with 10 rounds to go - we've just got to hang tough.

"He can still play. He's just tired and sore like the other guys. He's just got to battle on."

Hardwick blasted his men for wasting their chance to grab a spot in the top eight with victory over Melbourne.

"We had all our players play below-expectation standard on the same day, which doesn't help you," Hardwick said, although he did also praise three-goal forward Tyrone Vickery.

"You can't win games of football when you've got too many passengers which is disappointing.

"We've got a really big challenge next Saturday with Carlton who are one of the form sides of the competition."

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