Richmond coach Damian Hardwick says he is expecting a tough North outfit on Friday night.

“We are preparing for North Melbourne’s best, which is capable of beating anyone,” he said on Thursday. 

“Their record is 3-7, but they are a better side than 3-7, and we’ve spoken about that with the boys. 

“They ran Geelong down to the last quarter a few weeks ago. I expect them to play their best footy.”

Despite the departure of coach Brad Scott during the week, Hardwick isn’t expecting major changes to the Roos’ style of play under Rhyce Shaw.  

“They’ve been training their style of play for years, and to be fair it’s a pretty good style of play, and they move the ball pretty well,” Hardwick said. 

“They’re a very dangerous side.” 

The Tigers will be buoyed by the return of captain Trent Cotchin, who is set to play his first game since Round 3.

“Yeah, he (Cotchin) will play.

“It was touch-and-go last week, but we always had the North Melbourne game as our aim. He has trained really well and we are looking forward to welcoming him back.” 

Star forward Tom Lynch is also set to play, despite sitting out the last quarter of last week’s win over Essendon. 

“Tom Lynch is fine. We took it easy with him in the last quarter with a six-day break in mind.”