It’s going to be a scorching summer on the training track for the Tigers . . .

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick promised a tougher pre-season as part of an all-out assault on a finals berth in 2013.

“You look at a lot of our indicators . . . we’ve certainly improved in a lot of facets of our game,” Hardwick said at Richmond’s training session today (Thursday, August 23).

“We know it’s a stepping stone, we’ve improved every year.  We know we’ve got a hell of a long way to go, but as long as we’re improving every year, that’s what we’re after . . .

Richmond's official coaches partner, Lite n' Easy, has extended its contract by a further two years.  Click here to read more.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better in certain areas and we’ll address those in the off-season.

“We’ll certainly train our guys a hell of a lot harder in the pre-season and improve certain facets that we know need improving . . .

“We obviously had a couple of key retirements with (Kelvin) Moore and (Brad) Miller.  But the majority of our list is under 26.  We haven’t got many older ones.  Chris Newman, Jake King and Shane Tuck are important to us, so they’re going to be there next year.

“So, the majority of players that we’ve been blooding have been there for two or three years.  There’s no more real emphasis on us to play more youth.”