Richmond are playing more with more dare, grunt and confidence and have seven consecutive AFL wins to show for it.

The players deserve most of the credit, but coach Damien Hardwick said the club’s medical and fitness staff have also played a major part.

Injuries to key personnel Ivan Maric, Alex Rance and Brett Deledio underlined an underwhelming 3-10 start to the season.

The return of David Astbury in the VFL this weekend means Hardwick has a full squad to pick from, with the exception of Matt Thomas (knee), Chris Knights (quad) and Ty Vickery (suspension).

“It’s no coincidence that we got some players back and our form’s started to turn around,” Hardwick said on Thursday.

“Most of our list is really healthy, which compared to the front of the year has been a godsend.

“The great thing is it puts pressure on everyone within the side to play their role, and more importantly play well.”

Hardwick used the example of Collingwood, robbed of their best players in a lopsided last-start loss to Brisbane, to highlight the importance of injuries in the sport.

“People are, for mine, unfairly getting stuck into Collingwood,” Hardwick said.

“They’ve had significant injury over the last seven or eight weeks.

“It’s unfair to look at the results and expect Collingwood to perform at a level when they’re missing a significant number of their quality players.”