The Suns travel to Adelaide to play the Crows on Saturday night having fallen to 14th on the ladder.
Hardwick has been rapt with the upbeat off-field nature of his players amid the form slump, but says the likes of Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell need more on-field support.
"Sometimes a measure of a player, and this is what Matt is, he makes those around him better," Hardwick said ahead of the trip to face the fifth-placed Crows.
"What we're looking for is that next tier of players to step up and take a little bit of a load because we know he's taken a great deal of load for the Gold Coast Suns for a long period of time.
"We need that next tier of player to step up and make the game a little bit more of our own, that is part of our growth as a footy club."
Amid the six-game losing stretch, Hardwick praised the tough conversations among the club's senior core.
"What I have seen from our leadership this year has just been incredible with the way they have had those conversations," he said.
"It's a real big part of an emerging team's growth for those things to happen.
"Your organisation is really defined by bumps in the road. And what I have been proud of, is our leaders have stood up, accepted responsibility, but more importantly, challenged each other."
For the trip to Adelaide, the Suns lost Ben Long (suspension) and Ben Jepson was dropped, with defender Oscar Adams and Will Graham returning from a hamstring strain in round 13.
"Obviously he's a third-year player for us that we're really, really bullish on, signing to a long year deal which obviously shows the faith of the club," Hardwick said of Graham.
"For whatever reasons he just hasn't been able to get on the park as much this year as he and we would like.
"What we do know is when he's in our side, we win more games and we don't."
Adelaide, two premiership points shy of third but only four ahead of eighth spot, summoned Riley Thilthorpe from illness and in-form halfback Wayne Milera after a three-game absence due to a hamstring strain.
The Crows dropped Billy Dowling and rested mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Kahan.
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