A MIDWEEK blast by caretaker coach Jade Rawlings was the inspiration behind Robin Nahas’s four-goal effort against Adelaide on Saturday night.

Both coach and player admit that his attitude to training wasn’t up to scratch.

The 21-year-old responded with a 19 disposal game that almost pinched the game for the Tigers.

“I got a bit of a kick up the backside during the week,” Nahas said.

“My training habits didn’t improve. It’s my first year in the AFL system so yeah it was sort of a bit surreal so I’ve obviously got to improve a lot of areas, coming from the VFL.”

Nahas has already made a list of the areas he needs to improve on, including getting fitter and learning better recovery techniques.

“My fitness base needs a fair bit of improvement, I missed a couple of pre-seasons,” Nahas said

“I’ve got a lot of improvement to go, I’m still missing a few targets which I’ve really got to work on. I’ve got to really work on my disposal and my efficiency.”

Rawlings said the turnaround in attitude has been marked, with Nahas now having 14 goals to his name from 11 games.

“He was sensational,” Rawlings said.

“I had a bit of a chat to him during the week. We’ve got pretty high expectations for Robin Nahas. He’s worked very hard to get himself onto an AFL list and there’s no room for comfort for him.”

Kicking goals is clearly a delight for the small forward, but he says accuracy in front of the big sticks has been a major problem for him this season.

“I’ve missed a lot this year so I’m pretty disappointing with my kicking for goal,” Nahas said.

“Tonight it was good to kick straight, I love kicking a goal but I love tackling more.”

Nahas paid credit to Adelaide’s pressure which forced a number of Richmond turnovers.

However he believed the Tigers five-goal final quarter showed they had plenty to be positive about for the future.

“Obviously our hands weren’t that clean tonight so the boys know what areas they have to improve and we’re definitely going to work harder on the track to fix up those fundamentals,” Nahas said.