IT'S HARD to argue with Richmond coach Terry Wallace's contention that his side is in much better shape now than at this time last year.

Apart from the fact the Tigers have spent the last month in the finals mix, the raw numbers make it abundantly clear that noteworthy improvements have taken place.

After 19 rounds last year, the Tigers were 16th on the ladder; in 2008 they're 11th.

Eight wins and a draw is comfortably clear of the two wins and a draw that held them to bottom spot.

A percentage of 91.51 is well ahead of 74.62, then the lowest in the league.

Richmond's defence last year ranked 15th for points conceded; this year it's fourth.

And its eighth-best attack is far more potent than last year's 13th.

Wallace said it was obvious the side had taken significant strides, despite some calls to talkback radio from disgruntled supporters arguing otherwise.

"We won three games last year. We got belted by 157 points in other games. Who are 'they'?" Wallace questioned a journalist on Tuesday, with "talkback callers" the reply.

"I'm not interested in talkback callers – that's your lifestyle, going on to websites and talkback is not particularly where I get my information from.

"We have KPIs (key performance indicators) like everyone else has KPIs, and our KPIs are clearly better.

"Have a look at last year's percentage, and have a look at this year's percentage, and you'll see that there's a clear difference.

"We had a shocking year last year – on a basic win-loss principle, our change in a positive note would be nearly as high as anyone in the competition," he added.

"I think if most of you people sat back and were absolutely honest, most of you, if you didn't have us 16th, you probably had us 15th or 14th at the start of the year.

"We've done better than what most of the critics thought we'd do at this point in time.

"We're not where we want to be yet, but we think the graph's heading in the right direction."

But Wallace said it wasn't just the numbers that indicated a transformation had taken place at Punt Road.

"You measure what's changed around the place, and clearly what's changed is the list," he said.

"That's the main thing that's changed – it's a completely different list than what it was four years ago.

"Mine's about the course that you've taken and where the place is at and what changes we've made over that period of time. That's the way we'll judge it.

"If we continue to improve with young players playing, well, we're heading in the right direction."