SAMSON Ryan's moment of madness may have cost Richmond more than a goal in its 42-point loss to Port Adelaide, with the fill-in first ruck now staring down the barrel of a suspension.

Carlton's Will Hayward has been offered a one-match ban for an off-the-ball gut punch on George Wardlaw, and Ryan's similar act against Jordon Sweet may also find him written up.

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Coach Adem Yze said Ryan – currently Richmond's sole recognised ruckman – apologised for the action post-match. 

Skipper Toby Nankervis remains out with a torn hamstring and Category B rookie and former NBL player Ollie Hayes-Brown is untried, with Greater Western Sydney's Keiren Briggs to come in Gather Round.

The Tigers struggled badly against Fremantle with a makeshift ruck division of rangy defender Campbell Gray and rugby convert Mykelti Lefau, with Ryan at least only falling four hitouts shy of Sweet on Saturday.

"[Ryan] wasn't the only one. We gave a couple of 50s, and some of the undisciplined acts – especially when we're going through what we're going through, we've got a few players out and some young players out there," Yze said.

"You can't defend behind undisciplined acts. I'll cop it if it's an execution error and we're just not as good as them, but when it's something like that where it just crushes your spirit? 

"He just came in then and apologised for it, said it was probably a silly thing to do, and it was. For a young ruckman who hasn't played this season, and just half a game in the VFL (coming off a foot injury), he was really important for us. 

"His response post that, the next clearance, we won clearly, and that's what I want him to really focus on. He needed to pay back the mistake, and all I can ask for is that next centre bounce, to jump in hard and pay it back 10-fold."

Richmond's 0-4 start is now its worst opening month to the season since 2010 in Damien Hardwick's first year in charge, and the Tigers were unable to kick a goal until the final five minutes of the second quarter.

"We weren't happy with the way we started. We probably got a little bit lucky in the first quarter with an interstate team coming on our home deck – I thought we fuelled some of their opportunities with the way we were moving the ball. We probably should have been further behind," Yze said.

"All I could ask for is the response, and the adjustments we made in the second and third quarters around clearance, contest, territory and what we were doing with the ball, we gave ourselves opportunities. We just didn't get the reward for effort. We've got some frustrated boys in the rooms."

Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr was pleased with his side's response to last week's nailbiting loss to West Coast, despite it not being an overly rewatchable game.

"We spoke about those moments (when Richmond rebounded), and playing four quarters of football. We won all four quarters, it wasn't pretty at times, and I thought there were moments where we played some good footy and probably didn't finish off our work," Carr said.

"The first half, we were poor around stoppage, but our transition game and scoring off turnovers was quite positive. The second half, we were better in and around the stoppage and contest.

"I thought there were a number of players who stood up when the pressure was on, particularly our back six, led by (Aliir) Aliir in particular, he was outstanding. I thought (Lachie) Jones was really positive in his match-up and his contest, and the guys around with (Kane) Farrell and these guys, they were really positive and withstood the barrage of momentum against us."

Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines was on managed minutes in his first AFL match of the year, his start to the season initially waylaid by a 2025 suspension, before returning through the SANFL last week to build some touch. He played 55 per cent game time against the Tigers.

"It was just more about his first game back in the team. It's obviously a big jump from SANFL footy, and his game time will go up," Carr said.

Carr confirmed young key forward Jack Whitlock left the field late with cramp, and that Farrell's ankle will continue to be monitored after he rolled it badly, but played out the game.