Richmond is entering Thursday night’s season opener with a strong sense of excitement and anticipation, as the Tigers prepare to take the next step in their journey back up the ladder.

Discussing his expectations and hopes for the year, Richmond’s Executive General Manager of Football Performance, Tim Livingstone, has a key emphasis on growth and teaching the group of talented youngsters how to win.

“We want to see improvement in a variety of players,” Livingstone said on 3AW.

“It's exposure of the really young guys and the guys that are sort of 12 games or less, and then there's an element of seeing guys like James Trezise, Tyler Sonsie, Josh Gibcus, take their game to another level, and that'll be a good sign for us.

“We want to stay in games for longer, but there's all these elements, or metrics, that might say, oh, we shouldn't win too many games, but as a coaching department, and a footy department, we're out to win every game, and we're out to breed winning habits on a weekly basis.

“As much as the numbers might say it'll take us a while and maybe there's an element of we need to get games into players, there's also an element of we want to learn how to win and we want to learn how to win quickly.”

Leading the charge of the Tigers’ regeneration is Adem Yze, who had his contract extended until at least the end of 2028 this off-season, in a vote of confidence for the senior coach.

Livingstone was glowing in his praise for Yze, who continues to grow in his position.

“He's been so strong on education, so strong on teaching these players the right way, and exploring ways to get the message across,” Livingstone said.

“I think we've found that across the past two seasons, he's just got stronger in delivering that message and picking the times of when to have a significant impact and the times when he needs to empower his assistant coaches to have that impact.

“It's a continual journey, and he's got a wonderful positive attitude. He sees the game brilliantly. A key part of it is establishing great relationships and trust and respect from your players, and that's what he has done, and now he's got a complete group that he's growing with.

“He has the support of some wonderful leaders in Toby Nankervis, Tim Taranto, Tom Lynch, Nathan Broad, Jayden Short, Nick Vlastuin, Dion Prestia. He soaks up their information, their feedback and as a result, he's just getting better and better as a senior coach.”

Richmond’s season begins on Thursday night against Carlton at the MCG.