SORE bodies could force Richmond to make its first team change for the finals series heading into Saturday afternoon's decider against Adelaide at the MCG. 

The Tigers will have a seven-day break after beating Greater Western Sydney by 36 points last week. 

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick spoke at an AFL Coaches' Association function as he accepted the award for coach of the year on Tuesday night in Docklands, indicating there were players who might struggle to be declared fit.

While he didn't give any indication as to who they were, David Astbury (right shoulder) and Kane Lambert (foot) went into the rooms at quarter-time of the preliminary final to have their issues looked at.

"Obviously prelim finals are pretty tough encounters, so we've got a couple of sore boys that we'll just need to nurse through this week and see how they pull up," Hardwick said. 

"I probably think that the 22 that played last week have earned the right at this stage, but we'll just have to wait and see." 

Sam Lloyd won the Norm Goss Medal for best afield in the VFL Grand Final loss to Port Melbourne last Sunday, while tough onballer Anthony Miles and runner Oleg Markov are others who could come into the side if needed.