"I'm very, very serious about coaching this footy club next year," he said following his side's five-point win over Essendon at the MCG on Sunday.
Rawlings is interim senior coach at Punt Road following the departure of Terry Wallace mid-season.
"People who know me well will understand how much it means to me to coach this footy club," he said.
"I've been backed in and you fall in love your own and these players mean a lot to me. I'd like to think that I've been able to shape what they're doing and what's going to take this footy club forward.
"There is a process that is going to be conducted, which I want to go through as thoroughly as anybody, so that I know if I can get it, I've won it in my own right."
Asked if his coaching had improved in the past three weeks, Rawlings said: "That's for others to judge, but I feel confident about what I do. I don't want to feel as though I'm getting happy with myself.
"I've had no directive from the footy club to do X, Y or Z – they've just let me go with the match committee. That in itself means a lot to me, to be able to have that faith, but I think I'm improving every week."
Rawlings said he had considered returning to an assistant coaching position if he did not win the top job at Richmond.
"If I stay at the club and another coach wants me to be a part of it, then I'll stay because I love this footy club and what I'm doing," he said.
