Richmond forward Tyrone Vickery’s testing AFL season has struck another hurdle, with a calf strain ruling him out of Saturday’s match against Sydney at the MCG.

Vickery was ruled out on Thursday by coach Damien Hardwick.

The 21-year-old has struggled for form this season, but Hardwick remains bullish on Vickery when he does return, convinced it is just a matter of time until he turns a match.

“With Ty a big game for him’s around the corner,” Hardwick said.

“We showed some vision to our midfielders today – the first quarter he was open about three or four times, but we couldn’t quite spot him up inside 50.

“The harsh reality of a key forward is at stages you’ll get used and other stages you won’t.”

Tall key position Ben Griffiths, who would have been one option to replace Vickery, has suffered another injury setback with a knee ligament problem sustained in the reserves ruling him out.

But the Tigers can console themselves with Sydney suffering a much bigger blow with Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes’ injury ruling him out for several weeks.

Along with the loss of ruckman Shane Mumford, it means the Tigers are going into the match against the Swans – who have lost just once in six games this season – as unlikely favourites.

Sydney have struggled badly at the MCG in recent seasons, and the Tigers have won their past two matches against the Swans at the ground.

Hardwick believes the Tigers need victories to reward their solid performances this season after posting just their second win of the year last weekend against Port Adelaide.

“This is our crucial bloc – there’s a lot of sides (we play) around where we are so our next four to five weeks is crucial to where we go,” Hardwick said.

“We’ve still got a tough draw but we need to start winning these games. We’ve been relatively consistent in our performance but we need to start getting some wins on the board.”

Hardwick is also mindful of Sydney’s midfield – led by in-form Josh Kennedy – whom he worked with while an assistant coach at Kennedy’s old club Hawthorn.

“Having known Josh from his Hawthorn days as a player who can push forward, and he’s a clearance machine also, he’s a player we’ve taken enormous note of,” he said.