Richmond captain Chris Newman says the club's self-belief hasn't suffered despite what he admits was a devastating loss to Carlton.

Tigers' coach Damien Hardwick accused his players of giving up during their 103-point humiliation last Saturday against the third-placed Blues at the MCG.

The Tigers face a crunch game against eighth-placed Essendon on Saturday night at the MCG and Newman says the time for crying about last week's embarrassing performance is over.

He is adamant that 13th-placed Richmond, who haven't played an AFL finals game since 2001, are still heading in the right direction.

"The group has been sensational in keeping the faith," Newman told a media conference on Tuesday.

"The group is really sure in the direction that we're headed.

"That hasn't taken a hit at all. We're steadfast on making improvements this year (from 15th in 2010).

"We don't see we're in a bad spot at the moment. We just need to pick ourselves up from the weekend's performance and put on a good performance this week."

The Tigers defeated Essendon by 16 points in round nine but the Bombers are suddenly back in top form after upsetting previously-unbeaten Geelong last week.

Hardwick felt the Tigers didn't have a crack against Carlton and said he wouldn't review the game with the players because "there's no point dwelling on that rubbish".

"It didn't sit very well," Newman said of Hardwick's accusation.

"The playing group was pretty upset after the game. To experience a loss, especially 103 points, is always a devastating feeling.

"If anything, you are probably trying harder and you make a few mistakes that way and you start forgetting the structures and those sorts of things and then everything else unravels.

"That (players giving up) certainly wasn't the feeling out there. There's no doubt the boys are trying.

"There's no point in crying about it for too long. You've just got to move on."

Newman said the classy Blues simply were able to get a run-on against an inexperienced defence.

"A lot of those Carlton guys were taking a lot of grabs and making the most of their opportunities. It's just part of our learning curve," Newman said.

Asked about Richmond's finals chances, Newman said that goal would be put to one side.

"When you get these 100-point (losses), you just try to identify what the things you need to work on are first, before you start worrying about those sorts of things," Newman said.

Newman said Hardwick had given his men a blast after the Carlton game.

"We think it was a few things," Newman said.

"But, as a whole, we're going in the right direction. We've just got to pick ourselves back up."

Newman said he doesn't expect an old-fashioned flogging this week on the training track.

"There'll be drills based around more defensive sort of efforts. That's a part of our game that we can definitely improve on," the midfielder said.

"They (Carlton) are a top-three side and they really exposed us. We expect some losses, but not by that much.

"On the big stage, it's always an embarrassing sort of feeling."

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