Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is confident he has the talent within his group to challenge again, although he concedes the biggest threat to the Tigers’ premiership defence is complacency.

“We're really excited about (next) year, but the fact of the matter is we've got to stay hungry and hunt the opposition as we did this year,” he said.

“Nothing changes from our point of view.

“As soon as you think you're in the doorway of success, the door quickly slams in your face.  So we've got to make sure we don't think we're better than anyone else, we've got to work just as hard as everyone else, and we've got to learn from everyone else.

“There are sides who did some things better than us, so we'll go to school on those sides.

“That's where you get better.”

Hardwick also pointed to the strength of Richmond’s VFL side, which made it to the Grand Final, but suffered a nail-biting loss to Port Melbourne, as an important factor in keeping the members of the Tigers’ AFL premiership team well and truly motivated for season 2018.

“(I could say) ‘You know what boys?  If you want to take it easy, I've got replacements ready to go’,” Hardwick said.

“Competition for spots is incredibly important in a successful year.”