Kicks’ says Tigers coach

“This is probably a little bit different obviously. There’s going to be a pretty parochial Tiger crowd behind us. But once they cross that white line the reality is they don’t get kicks, marks or handballs, the crowd. Our players have got to fulfil the duty to get the job done.

“We know our defensive template’s very strong. If we play with great intent and work rate then that will keep us in good stead.”

While the Tigers are the fairytale story this finals series as they attempt to end a 37year premiership drought, Hardwick said he had not been dwelling on history

The game doesn’t know what’s happened in the past, it just continues to look at what you’re going to bring this week and that’s all we’ve had our focus on this week, what we can possibly bring to the game,” he said.

“It (a premiership) is a boyhood dream for all of us and the summit’s just there (the MCG). But the reality is if you take your eyes off your feet at various stages you can pretty quickly.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks to go, hopefully, but the reality is we’ve got four quarters to play against a very good football side (today).”

Hardwick admitted “every player’s got a degree of nerves” heading into the match but said that was no different to the pre-Round 1 butterflies.

Richmond has one grand final this weekend, their VFL side to meet Port Melbourne at Etihad Stadium tomorrow. fall