Toby Nankervis is confident his Richmond side will go into Thursday night's season opener firing after a strong pre-season, despite their 50-point practice match loss to Melbourne.
The Tigers welcomed a two big name recruits in 2022 and look primed to impress this season, with Nankervis welcoming the competition for spots as the season approaches.
Speaking to Zero Hanger, the Richmond co-captain revealed that he felt in great shape after a full pre-season, as is the wider team.
"Body's good. I think I've had a full pre-season," Nankervis said at Captain's Day.
"In as good as a spot as I can be and looking forward to testing myself out against good opposition next week.
"The team is in good shape and that's something we've probably got, good depth this year.
"Selection will be tough I reckon for the coaches."
Richmond welcomed former Giants Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper in last year's trade period, while young recruit Tylar Young is looming as a potential Round 1 debutant.
The Tigers were downed by Melbourne last weekend in a practice match at Casey Fields, overrun by the speedy Demons in the first half.
As their last official hitout before their Round 1 clash, the co-captain admitted it gave the side plenty to learn from.
"We've got a lot to learn from our practice match against Melbourne last week and I'm sure the boys who are training today will do some work on that and we'll be ready to go," Nankervis said.
"I don't think it was a great performance in general, a lot of thing we didn't do well enough and we watched the tape and it was hard to watch and I think we need to get a lot better.
"The good thing is we've got a week to get that right."
Richmond's season will begin on Thursday, March 16 against Carlton at the MCG.
