The Suns, who hadn't reached a finals series in 14 attempts before last season, have been installed as betting favourites to win the flag after a dominant Opening Round defeat of Geelong.
"They're going to go there at various stages and you hear the outside noise and that's the level of expectation we speak about," he said ahead of Sunday's meeting with West Coast at Carrara.
"But it's, more importantly, how you get back.
"If we sit there and start to think about outcome, that's when you get tight and bad things happen."
They're unbackable favourites to beat the Eagles but Hardwick, a three-time premiership coach at Richmond, is wary.
"Andrew McQualter, he's got a great system in place," Hardwick said of the coach, who spent 10 years at the Tigers, he mentored.
"The only KPI they didn't win in their last practice match against Port Adelaide was on the scoreboard.
"Their system is very, very strong."
Hardwick has again resisted the temptation to give Jamarra Ugle-Hagan a club debut, keen to build the forward's match fitness at the lower level after the former Western Bulldogs No.1 draft pick didn't play a game last year.
The 23-year-old played two pre-season matches and then booted five goals in a VFL practice hit-out against Southport last Friday.
"He came into my office (on Friday) ... he'll be a little bit frustrated at various stages, which is good because you want a driven guy and he's very much like that," Hardwick said.
"The AFL world is sitting there waiting for him to play, and we can't wait to put him out there.
"But when we put him out there, we want to make sure that he's ready to go."
Jake Rogers will replace Bailey Humphrey (hamstring), who was withdrawn on Saturday in a blow after his scintillating four-goal effort against the Cats.
Jed Walter was included on the extended bench after serving a one-game suspension but Hardwick hinted there would unlikely be any unforced changes.
The Eagles will blood four debutants, with summer signing Milan Murdock and first-round draft picks Willem Duursma, Cooper Duff-Tytler and Josh Lindsay all locked in.
The Eagles won just one game last season but will savour Elliot Yeo's return - injuries kept him out all year - alongside a fitter Harley Reid.
"It's pretty significant. Harley's still 20 years old, and he carried the main mantle of being our clearance player last year, which is pretty uncommon," McQualter said.
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