Experienced Richmond midfielder Nathan Foley is steadily building some impressive form following a slow start to the 2014 season.

Foley, who has had a horror run with injuries over the past few years (primarily ankle and Achilles), spent several weeks early this season in the Tigers’ VFL side, but regained his place in the seniors for the Round 9 clash with Melbourne and has now played nine consecutive games at the highest level.

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The 28-year-old veteran of 147 league games, had a season-high 27 disposals against Fremantle in Round 13, followed by 20 against Sydney in Round 14, 22 v St Kilda, Round 15, 19 v Brisbane, Round 16, and 10 (as the ‘sub’ coming on late in the game) v Port Adelaide, Round 17.

“We’ve been in a heavy training phase, and ‘Axel’ was training extremely well.  That’s what I think correlated into his performances.  He’s reaping the benefits of training hard, and we’re seeing it in games,” said Foley’s Tiger teammate Brett Deledio.

“He’s really practised that tucking the ball under his arm and breaking away from contests . . .

“We just need to get him kicking a few more goals.

“He’s playing forward with myself, Shane (Edwards), ‘Dusty’ (Dustin Martin) and those boys, so get him kicking goals and it just adds another string to his bow.”