In the wake of Richmond’s stirring 2017 Grand Final victory over Adelaide, ‘Roar Vision’ caught up with the Tigers’ newest premiership heroes to get their thoughts on the glorious triumph. First-up, it’s Bachar Houli . . .

Leading lessons learned from losing

“I just felt really confident because of the style of footy that we’d been playing . . . The start (to the season) we had was phenomenal – 5-0 – and then we had a rough patch of four games that we lost. But even though we lost those four games, I was still positive – not only me, but the whole playing group. I feel like our losses throughout the season made us strong as a team because there are so many learnings from that. And that was the great thing about losing. You kind of need that, every now and then, to fine tune those little things. That’s what helped us gel and become stronger as a group. The way we finished off the last two games of the home-and-away season, beating Fremantle and St Kilda by massive margins, and then those two finals (qualifying v Geelong and preliminary v GWS) . . . that’s why I was so confident throughout the Grand Final.”

The Grand Final lead-up

“My week was nice and mellow . . . I didn’t change the routine. But the real feeling of the Grand Final was the Friday – the parade, and the open (training) session. That was really special, having that many fans out here cheering you on. And then, being involved in the parade with my daughter was something that I will never forget.”

Going into the biggest game of them all

“I woke up that morning (Grand Final day) and was still very relaxed. I thought to myself, just go in there . . . it’s another game. The pressure’s going to be on for the first 10-15 minutes, potentially the first quarter, and then things will settle . . . The way I treated it was if it was my last game. I think I went into the contest that many times, which at times I probably wouldn’t do, just purely because I really wanted to win . . . I wanted the ultimate success that every player wants. We deserved it, so give it all you’ve got. The pressure that we’d been applying, it’s something we can control. And when you go into a game like that, it gives you so much confidence. I was really confident that we were going to win, to be quite honest.”

Sticking strictly to the process

“It has been about the process the whole way through . . . Even in the last five minutes of the game, I was trying to enjoy the victory of the Grand Final, and you’ve got guys like ‘Rancey’ (Alex Rance), Dave Astbury and Dylan Grimes looking at me and saying, ‘Process, process’. I felt like saying, ‘You know what, guys, get out of here, get stuffed, because I’m going to enjoy this, we’re up by 40 points’.   But even for the last five minutes of the game it was something special. And it was all about the process. It was process driven . . . Don’t ever give up until the last second.”

Sweet sound of the final siren

“I was in the back pocket and I remember I’d just intercepted the ball. It was touched off the mark and I thought it was a mark. So I’ve gone back, and then I went over the line . . . I laughed about it and then, a few seconds after that, ‘Cotchy’ (Trent Cotchin) was right next to me and the siren went. I grabbed him and I was like, ‘Come down with me . . . mate, you’re coming down with me’. So that was a special moment. Then we went down on the ground, and I was grabbing Cotch. I said, ‘We did it, mate, we did it, we did it’. It’s funny because there’s a saying, ‘You’re only as good as your last game’. That’s how I feel at the moment, with all the positive comments coming out . . . I feel like I’m another Dusty (Dustin Martin), to be quite honest. Nowhere near, of course . . . he’s a legend. But I feel special . . . The great thing is I’m glad that I stepped up in the big game – the game that means so much to the Club, the fans. And it’s appreciated, which is the main thing.”

The might of the Tiger Army

“We love the Tiger Army. They turn up on a week-to-week basis. And their roar, at the most crucial games of the year (the finals series), it sent goose bumps down your whole body . . . That GWS game (preliminary final), having 93,000-plus fans – just our fans – was something really special. We hope next year we can get to 90,000 members . . . I believe we can. Now that we’ve tasted success, I want to see every Richmond supporter get on board. Let’s go for 90,000 and create history.”

Hungry for more

“It’s put so much confidence in me and in the playing group that we can go again. That’s the plan, that’s the aim. We’ve done something special, we’ve created history, it’s a fantastic feeling. The great thing now is we’ve felt success. And when you feel success, you want more success . . . So I can’t wait for next year . . .”