A rare uninterrupted pre-season could be the catalyst for Richmond’s valuable veteran midfielder Nathan Foley returning to his best form in 2014.

Foley, who has been plagued with injury problems in recent years, told his former teammate Matthew Richardson, in an exclusive interview on this week’s episode of ‘Talking Tigers’ that he was raring to go this season following a strong summer on the training track.

“It’s been nice to pretty much do 100 percent of the pre-season.  It’s been a tough pre-season, the boys have worked really hard, and I’ve been lucky enough to get most of it out, which has been a really good result,” Foley said.

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“There’s been a big emphasis (over the pre-season) for the midfield group to work on both defensive running and also contested ball.”

The 28-year-old veteran of 136 league games, has taken the disappointment of not being included in Richmond’s side for the 2013 elimination final against Carlton in his stride.

“We all want to play finals, so that’ll certainly be the goal for me again this year,” he said.

Foley is confident the Tigers are well prepared to take the next step this season.

“The boys have had a really good summer, which is fantastic.  It’s another summer under ‘Dimma’ (Damien Hardwick), refining our game plan and structures, and it’s also another pre-season for blokes like Brandon Ellis, ‘Dusty’ (Dustin Martin), Reece Conca, and these sort of guys.  Their natural improvement will, hopefully, keep us going up the ladder.”