Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has highlighted "two really bad quarters of footy" as the clear point of difference in the club's opening four rounds of the season.
The Tigers gave up seven-goal quarters to the Blues and Saints across the final terms of their Round 1 and Round 3 clashes respectively, costing them a chance to end the opening month of the season undefeated.
Convincing wins against the Giants and Bulldogs have sustained the Tigers' finals ambitions for this year however, with Hardwick having not held more wins than losses to a season record since Round 15 last year.
Richmond had recorded nine defeats across their 13 matches prior to last Saturday's 38-point win over the Dogs, with the emphatic victory hopefully steering the Punt Road club back on course for a September.
While his side has found some needed form across the past three weeks, Hardwick has chalked down two "diabolical" quarters from their season's star as to why the Tigers find themselves on the outskirts of the top eight.
"We've got some things that we're doing really well and there's always areas that we'd like to improve," Hardwick said.
"We've played two really bad quarters of footy. I think other than that, we've been pretty consistent.
"Those quarters, unfortunately, were diabolical in nature, so we've got a little bit of work to do.
"We've just got to make sure that when we do have those bad quarters we're able to sustain the opposition's momentum, which we'll get tested at some stage and hopefully we stand up."
Looking to steer themselves into the early-season finals frame, the Tigers will travel to South Australia this weekend to face the Crows as Richmond chase their first set of successive wins since last June.
Like the Tigers, Adelaide have fallen short of the mark on two occasions where the game was there to be won, having endured losses by less than a kick to the Bombers and Dockers so far this season.
Some fortune has swayed their way however, with a match-winning post-siren set-set from recruit Jordan Dawson seeing Matthew Nicks collect his first four premiership points of the season in Round 3.
Set to host Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, the Crows are facing the likelihood of starting their 2022 campaign 1-4 as they enter this week's affair unfavoured against the Tigers.
Despite this, Hardwick remains adamant the Crows have what it takes to dismantle some of the competition's top clubs this season as they continue on their trajectory up the ladder.
"I'm really bullish about where they're at," the Tigers coach said.
"They could quite easily be three and one, had two close losses to Essendon and Fremantle.
"[They've] got a really definable style of play that they're trying to implement, and they're doing it well. They've got some great young players that have stepped in and played some good roles.
"It's going to be really tough contests on their home deck. I like the way they're going about and I think they're going to be a good side, not only this year but moving forward."
The Crows' attack was buoyed by the return of veteran sharpshooter Taylor Walker for their Round 4 encounter with Essendon last week, with the Adelaide spearhead booting four majors in a strong comeback performance for his side.
Coupled with the mercurial services of rookie Josh Rachele, the Crows' attack is sure to place plenty of strain on an undermanned Tigers rearguard.
Hardwick has been forced to shift the magnets across his backline throughout this season, with this week no different with Josh Gibcus (managed) and Kamdyn McIntosh (H&S Protocols) both absent from his planning.
Triple premiership defender Nick Vlastuin has returned from a hamstring issue for his first match of the season, however the Tigers will remain to face an uphill battle against Walker with Dylan Grimes remaining sidelined with a hamstring injury of his own.
"He was pretty good last week wasn't he?" Hardwick said of Walker.
"Four [goals] last week, won a lot of possessions inside 50 which is really, really damaging.
"Him coming in is a good get for them. We're gonna make sure that we've got adequate defenders to take him out of the equation because he's such a dominant player when he's playing good footy."
The Crows will host Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, with the match to commence at 4:35pm AEDT.
