COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley has revealed an awkward 'wrong number' moment when trying to offer support to beleaguered Richmond counterpart Damien Hardwick.

Buckley said on Thursday that AFL Coaches' Association chief Mark Brayshaw had mistakenly given the Collingwood mentor the phone number of Hardwick's wife, Danielle.

"Why Mark Brayshaw has got my wife's number, I'm not too sure," Hardwick laughed when asked about the incident on Thursday.

Despite the initial error, Buckley's well-meaning call was a positive sign of the times, according the Richmond coach.

"Look, we want to kill each other on the weekend but I think as a group of men we've started to understand," Hardwick said.

"We're all in these situations at some stage so we lean on each other a lot more than we used to."

Buckley said it felt like the right time to check in as the Tigers struggle at 1-5 and face fierce scrutiny in a season that had high expectations.

"I'm sure there are things going on at Richmond that we speculate on, but we wouldn't have a clue," he said.