Richmond confident it will retain Dustin Martin and Reece Conca RICHMOND remains confident it will secure unsigned midfield duo Dustin Martin and Reece Conca before contemplating moves in this year's trade period. The Tigers are believed to be at the upper limit of their salary cap and are sticking to about a $500,000 a year limit for Martin. The club has vowed not to cave in to demands to pay Martin as much as $600,000 a season. Conca, who said the club was devastated to cough up a 32-point lead in Sunday's elimination final loss to Carlton, yesterday had scans on the hamstring he injured five minutes into the loss. "It's not great - obviously we went in with pretty high expectations but you know Carlton were just the better team on the day," Conca said. It was pretty devastating but we had a really good year, we'll build off that and just look forward to next year. The Tigers will zero in on the midfield and defensive lapses and a lack of leadership around crucial stoppages that cost it on Sunday, before finalising its trade and free agency plans. The Tigers have been major players in the exchange period in recent years but they will have less spare cash to land a big name this year. "We'll go through that," coach Damien Hardwick said. Blair (Hartley) and Francis (Jackson) our list manager and recruiting officer will go through that and we will work through it. Like all clubs we have certainly got needs we'd like addressed but what comes to fruition there I'm not too sure. Richmond was playing its first final in 12 years on Sunday but Hardwick denied a shortage in finals experience was a factor in the Tigers" second half fade-out. "I don't think so, I think it's a little bit of a fallacy to be honest," Hardwick said. I've been around a long enough time to know that big games are big games. There's a lot obviously that hangs on this one. We will earn some lessons on some stages of plays when we had control of the ball and we went too fast. It cost us last time against them and it cost us this time. WHAT went wrong with the Tigers? After a year of promise they capitulated on the big stage in the elimination final loss to Carlton. Leadership When it mattered most, it was Carlton's leaders who imposed themselves on the game, especially around the stoppages. The Tigers" organisation and structure around the clearances fell away. Skipper Trent Cotchin did not receive the support he would have liked from senior teammates. Trent Cotchin celebrate's a goal with Brandon Ellis on the half time siren. Trade The Tigers have become the masters of trade moves and free agency in recent year. An inside midfielder, high on leadership and aggression will be high on their agenda next month, to help take the load off Cotchin. They have been linked to Taylor Adams, from Greater Western Sydney and Brisbane back-up ruckman Billy Longer. GWS midfielder Taylor Adams has put off contract talks until the end of the season. Defensive 50m Richmond's backline face a tough summer after finishing the season with their worst performance of the year. The Blues kicked 6.2 from its 13 entries forward in the last term. Steven Morris, one of the best small defenders in the AFL, conceded three goals to Eddie Betts for the game. Steven Morris gives away a free kick. Tempo Richmond likes to control the ball but their ability to maintain possession dissipated after half-time. Instead, the game was played on Carlton's terms, at breakneck speed. The Tigers took only 12 marks for the last quarter. Again, it comes down to leadership to help turn the momentum. Jack Riewoldt Riewoldt's primary role is again up for debate after having little influence on Sunday's contest. One of the club's highest paid players, the spearhead played a decoy role early, dragging Michael Jamison away from the hotspot. He was not the main man in attack, finishing with one goal and did not take a contested mark. Riewoldt won only three of his 11 possessions inside the forward-50m.