Cotchin was once again a lightning rod of analysis for media commentators over the weekend following the Tigers' late capitulation against Collingwood at the MCG last Friday night.

It's not the first time the three-time best-and-fairest winner's captaincy has been scrutinised, with his poor performance in last year's elimination final against North Melbourne providing plenty of debate over the summer, and Hardwick is sick to death of it.

"It's easy for people to sit behind keyboards and microphones and cameras and make judgment but this is a guy that leads from the front," a fired-up Hardwick said of Cotchin at Punt Road Oval on Thursday.

"He has 38 possessions, he wins clearances, he wins contested ball, he's an outstanding leader of our football club. No question.

"I sit there and am flabbergasted by the criticism he cops. We win a lot of football games because of this bloke so people need to actually take a deep breath and start to look at some other targets.

"I'm tired of it to be honest and it's about time people looked at this guy for what he is - a bloody good football player."

Hardwick didn't think the constant criticism affected Cotchin but thought it had got to the stage where the club needed to start addressing the situation.

"It's become farcical the level it's got to ... he's one of the best players in the competition," he said.

"Even our fans look at it too. I find it incredibly disappointing and unjust."

Hardwick conceded his players made "cataclysmic mistakes" in squandering a three-goal lead in the final four minutes of last round's match against the Magpies.

Defender David Astbury this week said that he wasn't "really sure what the coaches really wanted in the last few minutes", but Hardwick insisted his players knew exactly what was required in those situations.

"We review the process, we train these things over the course of the summer, it [the loss] is a great refresher," he said.

"Early in the season you're going to make mistakes, we made some cataclysmic mistakes in the last four-and-a-half minutes that we went through. Our players are of the understanding we know what is required to do and we move on.

"We're 90 seconds from being 2-0, we're a good football side. We'll continue to get better."

Hardwick said that most AFL clubs were starting to explore the mental side of the game in an attempt to make players more capable of controlling their emotions in pressured on-field situations and that some of his players were even looking to NBA superstar LeBron James for inspiration on how to stay calm in the heat of battle.

Meanwhile, Hardwick confirmed small forward Shane Edwards would be available for selection against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Saturday after undergoing minor hand surgery late last month.

However, the Tigers would have to make do without ruckman Ivan Maric, who will most likely play in the VFL this week, and Brett Deledio who continues to battle a quadriceps injury.

Hardwick was unsure as to when Deledio would make his return to the senior line-up given he hasn't progressed in his bid to be able to kick the ball without re-aggravating the muscle.

Steven Morris might come in to the team to shadow the dangerous Eddie Betts while Troy Chaplin could play his first game for the year as a replacement for Dylan Grimes who could be sidelined for more than the two weeks that the club originally set as a recovery timeframe.

"[Given] the nature of the injury, we're not too sure at this stage," Hardwick said of Grimes.

"At this stage we've put a two-week timeframe on it but that's not to say it will be definitely two weeks."

The Crows are the third-highest scoring team in the competition after two rounds but Hardwick was confident Saturday's game wouldn't be a free-flowing affair.

"We are one of the better defensive sides in the comp ... it'll probably be a different ball game than what you've seen over the first two weeks," he said.