There are only two other people that aremore excited about Matthew White's arrival onto the AFL scene than Whitehimself – his dad and grandfather.

In fact, so pleased was White's grandfatherthat he had a tiger's head, with Matt's number 35 underneath, tattooed onto hisshoulder three weeks ago – accompanying the one on his arm he had done manymoons ago.

White says his grandfather's enthusiasm forRichmond-themed body art was inspired by the sight of Jack Dyer doing what hedid best in a game against Fitzroy at PuntRoad when he was just a boy.

"He came to his first AFL game withhis cousin, I think," White said. "Apparently, Jack knocked someoneout that day and Richmondgot up and won. After the game he decided he would barrack for the Tigers."

Naturally, the unbridled enthusiasm for theTigers filtered down to White's father, who has continued the Richmondloyalty by barracking passionately – and loudly – at every Richmond game.

Of course, the yellow and black bloodrunning through the veins of the entire White clan increased to tsunami-likeconditions when the former Calder Under 18 star was selected by the Tigers in lastyear's NAB AFL pre-season draft.

"I think everyone was hoping that Iwould play for Richmond,"grinned White. "So, yes, they were very, very happy."

So, too, was the Richmond Football Club,which selected the pacey wing/half-back with their one and only pick in thatpre-season draft.

Since debuting against Fremantle in round 10last year, White has rewarded his club's faith, clocking up 14 games – 11 lastyear and three so far this season.

White says he is "absolutely loving"life as an AFL footballer and is yet to get over the feeling of running ontothe ground and, in particular, hearing the sweet music provided by the Tigerscheer squad.

"They are just brilliant behind thegoals with some of the things they sing and chant," he said.

And it should be no surprise White enjoysthe odd tune from behind the goals, especially when you consider the variedselection of songs that reside in his iPod.

"There are a few musical numbers thatmy sister and mother have snuck onto my iPod. They love acting and listening toshow tunes, so I often find music from Guysand Dolls, Copacabana and Singing' in the Rain popping up everynow and again," said White.

Considering White's history on the stage,perhaps the show-tunes interspersed between his own preferred musical tastes ofpunk and hard rock is not all his sister's and mother's doing.

"I had to sing a 15-second song duringour school's production of Copacabana.I had to sing it as though my voice was breaking," White explained.

"It was a solo and there were three orfour hundred people in the audience and it scared the hell out of me."

Luckily, White has overcome his high schoolnightmare and set his sights on living out his AFL dream. After a successfulfirst season with Richmondlast year, where he averaged 11 possessions per game, White says he is fullyfocused on continuing the upward trend.

One of his goals this year is to play moregames in the senior team than he did in 2006. The young Tiger acknowledges hewill have to improve his consistency in order to achieve that goal.

"My form so far this season has beenup and down; good form at VFL level, and slowly starting to find it at AFLlevel," he said.

"On the field, I know I need to keepmy possession rate up and make sure I am making an impact wherever I am andalso shutting down my opponent."