Dustin Martin will return when Richmond chase their first win since the AFL season resumption against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

Martin missed the round three loss to Hawthorn with bruised ribs but Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said the star midfielder would be among three or four inclusions this week.

“He trained Tuesday, he’ll train today,” Hardwick told reporters on Thursday.

“So our information is that he’ll play.”

Hardwick said Richmond hadn’t wanted to risk Martin if he wasn’t able to play to his capabilities.

“I think the week off no doubt helped him,” he said.

“From our point of view it was always touch and go last week – that he’s such an important player to the way we play, we just want to make sure he’s right.”

Richmond struggled to find genuine connection between midfield and attack against the Hawks and Martin’s return should go some way towards amending that issue.

“He’s one of the better forward half connection players we have and that then allows us to use Shane Edwards a little bit differently as well with the connection between the midfielders and the forwards,” Hardwick said.

The Tigers will welcome back tenacious utility Liam Baker, who also missed the Hawthorn clash to return to Western Australia for a funeral.

“He’s back so he’ll play this week,” Hardwick said.

“We missed Liam last week – he’s such a popular member of our side but he’s very important to the way we structure up and the way we play as well.”

The Tigers struggled against Hawthorn winger Isaac Smith’s run last week and will face Brad Hill on Saturday, but Hardwick said there were no plans to change their approach to the wings.

The Richmond coach also defended key forward Jack Riewoldt, who has been goalless in his two games since the season resumption.

“The key forwards in general have been struggling throughout the league at the moment so we’re not too worried about it,” Hardwick said.

“The sky’s certainly not falling down from our point of view.”