Richmond ‘Immortal’, Royce Hart, is optimistic about the outlook for the current Tiger team.

Interviewed by esteemed veteran football journalist, Mike Sheahan, on Fox Footy’s “Open Mike” series this week, Hart expressed his confidence with the direction the Tigers were taking under coach Damien Hardwick . . .

“I think they are on the right path this time,” Hart said.

See the stars of the past at the 2013 Hall of Fame induction.

“They probably need another key forward to help Jack (Riewoldt) out, but apart from that, they are a lot better side now than they have been for the last 20 years.”

The former champion centre half-forward and four-time Richmond premiership hero, nominated a fellow Tasmanian as the best footballer he’d played alongside throughout his glory days at Tigerland.

“There were several good players.  You don’t win four premierships without having good players.  But I think the best player that I saw – and I played with him and against him – was Ian Stewart,” Hart said.

“When he first came to Richmond, I was asked to take him around the tan.  He struggled to get round there . . . he wasn’t physically built to play VFL football. 

“But he just worked that hard on his game, and showed that much courage, that he was able to perform the way he did.”

Hart’s glowing reputation as a big-occasion player, in his day, was touched on in the wide-ranging interview.

“I always used to think that going to play in front of a big crowd, if you had ability, you could show it to a big crowd,” he said.

“I looked forward to playing in big games.  In fact, I think if you look at records, I played better in front of bigger crowds than what I did against lesser sides and smaller crowds.”

When asked if there was a moment in his career that he cherished more than any other, Hart couldn’t look beyond his wonderful 1967 debut season of league football.

“I think the ’67 premiership was . . . Richmond had been 20-odd years without a premiership.  To see the joy on the faces of the people, who had been following the Club for all those years, was just terrific,” Hart said.