Richmond rising star Brandon Ellis is constantly looking for ways to become a better player, which is why he’s so highly regarded at Tigerland.

The talented 20-year-old, coming off a season where he averaged a highly-respectable 18.6 disposals and 5.9 marks per game, along with 14 goals, is hell-bent on learning how to deal with a tight tag, in order to take the next step in season 2014.

“One thing I really want to learn how to do, is break that tag, or if someone is running with me pretty tightly, find out other ways to get around it,” Ellis told ‘Roar Vision’.

“The pre-season is going to be massive for me, and I can’t wait.

“I want to work really closely with ‘Cotch’ (Trent Cotchin) and ‘Lids’ (Brett Deledio) – those sort of guys who get tagged – and ‘Jacko’, who’s been a tagger, so I can find out things off him that he hates when he’s tagging.”

Ellis also plans to work on his aerobic capacity over the pre-season, in a bid to further boost his already-impressive running ability.

“I think I’ve naturally had a ‘tank’.  In Year 5, I made the State team for the cross-country 3km time trial, so, ever since I was young, I’ve had a bit of a tank,” he said.

“But you’ve obviously got to work really hard over the pre-season to be able to match it with the ‘big dogs’ like ‘Gazza’ (Gary Ablett), ‘Pendles’ (Scott Pendlebury) and ‘Swanny’ (Dane Swan).

“So, I’ll try not to miss any session during the pre-season.  I just want to get the best out of myself . . .

“I want to be the best I can for this team because the quicker I can get better, and the quicker the younger guys can get better, the further we’ll all go as a club and be more successful.  That’s what it’s all about.”