Richmond may be the favorite in Thursday night’s season-opener against Carlton, but according to experienced Tiger defender Troy Chaplin that is totally irrelevant.

“I don’t know how you can be favourites when there hasn’t really been any form . . . The NAB Challenge is a great competition, but it’s a bit of ducks and drakes between teams, so it’s very hard to get a gauge on how teams are going,” Chaplin said on SEN.  

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“It’s a level playing field, I think, and it’s going to be an exciting game . . .

“All the supporters are really looking forward for the season to start, and I know the players are.  We’re sick of pre-season – we just want to get into it now.”

The 29-year-old veteran of 185 league games (45 with Richmond and 140 previously for Port Adelaide), regards it as difficult to measure how good your pre-season preparation has been, until the season proper starts.

“Every team’s going through exactly the same thing (in pre-season).  You’re running exactly the same, you’re training exactly the same, everyone’s improving, everyone’s running PB’s (Personal Bests) . . . it’s the same message that you’re hearing all the time,” Chaplin said.

Join fellow Tiger fans in a Tailgate Party and March to the ‘G before this Thursday’s game

“But the reality is, until the games start, you don’t really get a good gauge of how you’re going. 

“I think, for us, we need to make sure we improve on what we served up last year . . . the start wasn’t that great.  As long as we’re continually improving, and that’s what our focus has been on every session. 

“There hasn’t been one thing that we’ve changed that’s going to help us go the next step. 

“It’s more a consistent performance right across the board and making sure that every single player improves.”