Richmond coach Damien Hardwick will readily send young defender Ryan Garthwaite to dangerous Geelong forward Tom Hawkins in Friday night’s AFL blockbuster.

While Garthwaite is only 20 and has played just seven senior games, Hardwick is impressed with his competitive streak and a readiness to learn.

David Astbury’s injury means the Tigers will need Garthwaite to spend time on Hawkins, who has kicked four goals in each of his last four games.

“He’s one of those players who loves to learn and that’s why we love him as a player,” Hardwick said.

“It’s what we continue to challenge him with – you’re playing against the league’s best and it’s only going to make you a better player.

“He’s a very competitive kid, so he hates getting any goals kicked on him.

“But the reality is, at 20 as a key defender, that’s going to happen … he’s certainly rising to the challenge.”

Coming off their upset loss to North Melbourne, the Tigers made four changes for the MCG clash.

They dropped Shai Bolton and Nathan Broad, while Brandon Ellis is also injured.

Father-son pick Patrick Naish will make his AFL debut as Daniel Rioli, Jack Graham and Jacob Townsend return.

Gary Ablett and Rhys Stanley are back for the ladder-leading Cats, who dropped Zac Smith and James Parsons.

Rioli is back after a week in the VFL, where the livewire forward showed he had received the message from Richmond loud and clear about their expectations on him.

“His performance at VFL level was okay, what we were probably after more so was his work rate – to get back to what we knew (he can do),” Hardwick said.

“He’s started to work his way back into that, trained incredibly well this week.

“Every now and then the players, while they perform, don’t quite perform to the level of expectation we have of them or they have of themselves.

“We know when he’s at his very best, it certainly helps our football side … we’re glad he recaptured that last week.”