THE TIGERS aren't concerned that playing one game in three weeks will affect the way they start in Saturday's preliminary final, says defender David Astbury.
Geelong and Greater Western Sydney won last year's qualifying finals, and were beaten in the prelims by Sydney and the Western Bulldogs after a week off.
Famously, the Cats were stunned by the Swans in their game with a seven-goal-to-none first quarter.
But Astbury believes the Tigers have done all they can to make sure they're mentally ready to explode out of the blocks and avoid a post-week off lag.
"I think once the ball bounces, you're not really thinking about that too much," Astbury said on Tuesday.
"We've designed the program over the last fortnight to make sure that we had a good hit-out as if it was game-like intensity.
"We really enjoyed that on Saturday and we think we earned the weekend off, and we think we're in really good shape."
Yellow and black fever has swept across the suburb of Richmond, with supporters thrilled with the club's position that also has its VFL team playing in Sunday's Grand Final.
There are no players under injury clouds and they'll have the majority of the state behind them on Saturday when they face the Giants at the MCG.
The challenge for the Tigers is to make sure their emotions remain on an even keel, despite the hype that's growing every day.
Astbury said past experiences had taught them, and namely coach Damien Hardwick, that trying to block out such excitement can work against them.
"It's a real testament to our footy club and our fans, how big a volume of people we can put in the MCG," he said.
"We really excited by that, and the footy club is awesome about letting us embrace the build-up and the atmosphere and stuff, and all the guys really thrive off it.
"I think 'Dimma' (Hardwick) would be silly not to acknowledge that it's there, he doesn't try and tell us it's not a big deal or that we shouldn't really embrace it.
"I think he's probably learned from past experiences to allow us to soak it up a bit and enjoy it.
"He's been remarkable in allowing us to enjoy the moment, and if you try and suppress it, you might find yourself in a little bit of trouble."
One AFL player who won't be getting caught up in the anticipation surrounding the club is ex-Tiger Brett Deledio, who is in the first of three years on the Giants' list.
Deledio will play his 250th game this Saturday, but can't expect to be greeted warmly by the Richmond faithful who are expected to greatly outweigh those supporting the Giants.
"I imagine the crowd may be a little bit hostile, that's a by-product of going from a big footy club to another club, and he'll get some sort of reception," Astbury said.
"He's going to be wearing a GWS jumper and that makes no difference to us.
"Brett was a very popular player when he was here and enormously talented, so he's someone we've got to respect. He's one who could really hurt us.
"He was a loyal servant of the Richmond footy club and we respect that, but he plays for another team now and we'll attack him like he's a GWS footballer."
