As defender Nick Vlastuin gets stuck into his eighth pre-season at Richmond, the two-time premiership Tiger is hungry for more success.

Speaking to SEN last Friday, the 25-year-old said he was more excited than any other year to return to the training track.

“I was probably more excited to get back (to training) because you know how fun it can be," he said.

“The off-season is fun because you get to do what you want, but you want to get back into that routine and get around 40 of your mates.

“After the flag, you do get to build pretty special relationships. You want to be around those blokes more, and they're all at the footy club.

“The motivation is definitely still there.”

It was an exciting off-season for Vlastuin, who travelled to India with fellow Tiger Toby Nankervis as part of the Tigers’ official conservation partnership with WWF-Australia.

While the Tigers had a later start to the pre-season compared to clubs who didn't play finals, Vlastuin said they don't feel like they're behind at all.

"As Peter Burge (Physical Performance Manager) said on day one of pre-season, the three finals we played, they're the highest intensity games you'd want to play," he said.

"So we got that extra conditioning at the end of last season as well.

"I reckon if you spoke to any other AFL club about how (they) want to prepare for next season, it's probably three high quality games."

Vlastuin praised VFL premiership coach Craig McRae, who recently moved into the AFL program as an assistant coach, for his contribution to the depth within the Tigers' list.

"He's been unreal for our VFL program...It's a pretty tough spot to be in because all the players playing VFL, they want to do well and they want to be playing AFL.

"But 'Fly' brought them really close together.

"We had 36 players play across the year in the AFL...we know what (our players) do at VFL, they'll be able to do at AFL."