What exactly does 硬 mean here? 红孩儿 thinks 唐僧 tastes nice. He wants to eat him, but 孙悟空 is onto him. Leaving aside the important question of how he knows 唐僧的味道好, what does this 硬 mean?

看来，硬捉是不行的，不如换个方法！ 

I'd like to translate: 硬捉 directly grab him, just grab him，but I don't find these meanings for 硬。

硬：hard, strong, tough, firm, obstinate.

Is there another Chinese word which could replace 硬 here?
硬 here connotes forcefully, without any tactics and etc. 

硬捉 means to capture/seize/catch merely by force, without any tactics.

So, 


  看来，硬捉是不行的，不如换个方法！ 
  
  Looks like, the way of capturing forcefully (without any tactics) wouldn't work, so we might as well change/turn to another way.  


The synonym of 硬 in this context can be 强.