From a slow start to a strong finish, Richmond VFL and development coach Craig McRae is proud of the program’s growth in season 2016.

The VFL Tigers campaign started quietly but the group stormed home in the back-end of the year to clinch six consecutive victories.

When reviewing the season with Roar Vision’s Brenton Mann, McRae highlighted key-games that proved instrumental in the team’s development.

“I spoke to the players at the end of the season about a timeline of events that were significant and I remember the Frankston game, we lost our flair…” McRae said.

“It was significant because after the game the siren went; we had players laying on the ground.

“It was Round 3 and we had guys laying on the ground like we had lost the grand final.”

Ten rounds later the VFL Tigers were dealt a narrow two-point loss at the hands of the then ladder-leading Scorpions - but it proved a turning point for McRae’s side.

“It was a bit of affirmation for how far we’d come and it really kick-started the rest of the season for us,” McRae said.

However, the most disappointing result of the year came the following week - a nail-biting nine-point loss to Footscray.

“I was pretty frustrated, because we were five goals up and like I said the week before against Casey, we should have won that game,” McRae said.

“I was pretty angry because I thought the group just didn’t know how to win and I challenged them.

“I challenged the leaders that we weren’t going to do that again and I said ‘We’ve got six games to go, and we’re going to win every single one of them…’.

McRae’s post-game speech resonated with his group, who delivered six consecutive wins to finish the season on a high.

For McRae, another positive was Tigers’ senior coach Damien Hardwick blooding 10 debutants in 2016.

“You can measure the success of the program on wins and losses but you look at Jayden Short and Oleg Markov, those guys in particular, on the back of good form at VFL level - they become good AFL players,” he said.

“I’m pretty proud, and 10 debutants is an example of that – good VFL footy transfers into good AFL footy.”

While ultimately pleased with the VFL program’s development, McRae has his sights set on a more competitive 2017.

“We’ll start the race again at the start like everyone else does,” he said.