Tigers chasing another title

RICHMOND expects Damien Hardwick to pull something new out of his Santa sack this pre-season as the Tigers hunt a third premiership in four years.

And defender Dylan Grimes says returning backman Alex Rance is the one leading the team’s barrelling sleigh into 2020. Rance, who missed his team’s premiership glory after he sustained a knee injury in Round 1, appears in better condition than he was before the injury, Grimes said.

“He’s such a great leader for us and has been such a good player for such a long time,” Grimes said yesterday.

“He was really unlucky not to play in the later stages of this year. He’s been building now for 12 months for the season to start, so I think he’s going to be in terrific condition. Seeing him move around the track, he’s honestly moving better than he was before the knee, it looks like. The whole club is really behind him.

“Riding that emotional wave of seeing a player work so hard to get back on track and to get those rewards, hopefully, on field next year would be absolutely terrific.”

The Tigers embarked on their first joint training session with their new AFL Women’s team at Punt Rd Oval last night, with a mass team meeting before combined running and skills in balmy weather.

Tigers AFLW recruit Akec Makur Chuot said the men’s team had been “awesome” in its support ahead of the team’s inaugural season which begins in February.

“For us, to go off the back of what the boys have been able to achieve this year gives us a really strong momentum and a really good backing for us to go and put our best foot forward for the 2020 season,” she said.

Grimes, who is almost in full training in his 11th pre-season after wrist surgery, said dual premiership coach Hardwick was keeping his charges on their toes.

“Dimma’s a guy that really prides himself on ... really evolving as a coach,” he said.

“He acknowledges that if we play the exact same as we did in 2019, it’s not going to be good enough in 2020.”