RE-SIGNED Tiger Shai Bolton could be set for a breakout season after spending part of his off-season working in his fitness in Perth.
Bolton, 19, signed a new one-year deal with Richmond early last month after deciding in March to put off contract talks until the end of the season.
With the Tigers' summer training block for first-to-fourth-year players to start on Monday, November 19, club officials are already bullish about the change in Bolton's attitude ahead of his third pre-season.
"He has to work on his fitness, he knows that, and I know he's doing a lot of work back in Perth at the moment," list manager Blair Hartley told the club's website.
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"We're excited by him, he's only three months older than Jack Higgins and he's coming from a fair way back in terms of his preparation.
"I feel like he's starting to really get it now and we're looking forward to seeing him play some pretty good footy next year."
Bolton was highly touted last summer as the logical replacement for Daniel Rioli, who faced a delayed start to the 2018 campaign after post-Grand Final surgery to mend his broken foot, but
only lasted two games before reappearing in round 17.
He then had minor knee surgery to clean up a damaged meniscus in August.
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The Tigers have parted ways with Reece Conca, Sam Lloyd, Corey Ellis and Anthony Miles, which could allow players such as Higgins and Rioli to spend more time in the midfield in 2019.
This is expected to open up opportunities for Bolton to showcase his ability to play on the wing, as he did as a junior and on occasion in the VFL.
"With his vertical leap and his movement, he's an offensive weapon and we're excited by what he can do," Hartley said.
"He's got real speed, he can jump and mark it.
"He's a couple of pre-seasons away from being able to consistently compete at AFL level, but we're excited by him."
The Tigers' list changes have seen the quality of their depth questioned.
However, Hartley insists they'll back in improvement from their own players rather than go shopping for established talent.
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"We've seen Oleg Markov before and guys like Connor Menadue that are coming through, but the guys that we picked last year, particularly the talls, we're excited about what they can do as well," he said.
"We feel like we've got a lot of growth from below that will give us that natural improvement while also going to the draft and refreshing that bottom end of our list, which is critical for the long-term sustainability of our list."
Richmond landed the biggest off-season signing with Gold Coast forward Tom Lynch joining on a seven-year deal.
The Tigers also extended the deals of captain Trent Cotchin, spearhead Jack Riewoldt and defender Alex Rance, and re-signed a host of players including Dylan Grimes, Jayden Short and Higgins, plus Dustin Martin last year.
Still, Hartley believes they won't suffer a salary cap squeeze in 12 months' time despite their recent spending.
"It's an on-going thing, we're always looking to the future as well and we've had some wonderful commitments from our key players, particularly last year," he said.
"Bringing in a guy like Tom will put stress on the cap, but we're comfortable with the system we've got in place that we'll be open to things at the end of next year."
