Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has slammed his side's performance against North Melbourne, labelling the Tiger's effort in front of goal as "diabolical."

The Kangaroos finally managed to break their 14-game losing streak in the 4-point win, with interim coach Leigh Adams getting his first win in the op job.

With young Roo Cam Zurhaar kicking 6.1 alone, North's efficiency in front of goal got them off to a hot start as the Tigers struggled, heading into the main break having kicked 10.2. Richmond meanwhile, ended the match 11.22, and despite leading the inside-50's count (67-46), couldn't walk away with the four points.

"Our general intent in the first half was poor and our pressure rating of 1.6 was abysmal," Hardwick said post-game.

"Our system itself held up...we just didn't execute.

"It's not as if they were hard shots on goal - we kicked 1.9 from inside 30 metres.

"We're paid to kick goals, we didn't, and that's the reality of it.

"It was a good win by North - their hardness and their ability to play quick was good - but all in all, if you look at that template, we should win."

Richmond had plenty of opportunities to take the game on in the dying stages of the nail-biter, with decisions from both teams leaving plenty to be desired, such as Jake Aarts' decision to play on inside 50 within the final minute.

“Unfortunately, he probably made a decision that if he had his time again, he’d take back, but the reality is he made it, so we move on," Hardwick said on the closing moments of the game.

"There's numerous reasons and the last defensive-50 goal (to Zurhaar) was poor.

"We can't let a guy come from the other side of the pack and just stroll through.

"It was ridiculous and probably sums us up really - it's Richmond killing Richmond at the moment."

The Tigers are now sitting in eighth spot on the ladder on percentage alone, with the Western Bulldogs' Friday night win over St Kilda placing them precariously close. Despite the loss, Hardwick remained cautiously optimistic of the Tigers' finals chances.

“If we get there, we’re a chance but we’ve got some work to do,” Hardwick said.

“We’ve just got to figure out what makes us, us. We’re doing a lot of things right but we’re killing ourselves at the moment, so it’s a challenge.

“You sit there and look at things and reflect on what we could have done and this, that and the other but we just had to kick goals.”