HAWTHORN Vice-Captain Jordan Lewis expects Richmond players to come out firing on Saturday after they were criticised for their lack of intensity against Sydney last Sunday.

In the aftermath of his team’s 47-point loss, Tigers Coach Damian Hardwick described his team as not being hard enough against the reigning premiers.

"We got a kick up the backside today," he said in his post-match press conference.

"We probably weren't hard enough at stages."

The Hawks are aware of the comments made by the Richmond coach and expect the players to respond on Saturday at the MCG.

The Tigers are searching for their first top four scalp of the season after being convincingly beaten by Sydney last Sunday.

If they’re to beat Hawthorn on Saturday, however, Richmond will need to apply better tackling pressure and ability to win contested footy than they have this season.

The Tigers are ranked 18^th in the competition for tackles and 15^th for contested possessions.

Lewis says the Hawks will be ready for the inevitable Richmond intensity from the opening bounce.

“Damian Hardwick has come out and said they weren’t hard enough last week, so their backs are against the wall and we know they’ll come out firing,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“If he’s come out and criticised his players, it’s probably in the view that his players will come out and respond to that so we’ve got to go out and match that.

“We just need to produce what we did against the Bombers and be ready for them.”

Coming off a convincing win over Essendon last Friday night, Lewis says the playing group couldn’t help but take confidence from its impressive performance against a side that were second on the ladder at the time.

The Hawks sliced through the Essendon defence, with their elite ball use releasing hurting the Bombers and their ability to defend power forwards Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead.

While Franklin kicked eight goals and Roughead four, and Sam Mitchell had 31 disposals, the 27 year old says the win wasnt a result of individual brilliance but rather a team-first mantra.

“We took a lot of confidence away from our performance last week, it just shows that if everyone is playing for the team and doing their role, that’s the sort of result we get,” he said.

“We’ll be focusing again on that this week, like we’ve done all year.

“We know we’ve got some special talent in this group but no talent is bigger than the whole side.”