RICHMOND midfielder Shaun Grigg says the Tigers believe they can give their supporters hope for the future with wins in their remaining two games of the home-and-away season.

The Tigers have won their past two matches - a 43-point win over the Sydney Swans, and a seven-point defeat of Melbourne on Sunday - after snapping a six-game losing streak.

Now, they have switched their attention to Adelaide and North Melbourne, with Grigg saying the Tigers have full confidence they can win both and give themselves a solid base to launch into the 2012 season from.

"We didn't want to go through the motions the last couple of games. We want to prove something and we want to play our game style and the last couple of weeks we've done that," he told afl.com.au on Sunday evening following his 23-touch performance against the Demons.

"We're pretty confident we could win all four. We've showed that we can play good footy against quality sides last week against the Swans, and the big challenge was this week to back it up against the Dees.

"They challenged us there, we were four goals up at one stage and they challenged us, we came back and it was good for the young group to lift and get the four points."

The Tigers have known for weeks that they won't play finals this season, while the Demons' aspirations were finally snuffed out on Sunday with the loss.

Still, there was plenty of passion in the game and the plus-36,000 crowd was incredibly vocal in its third-last opportunity to see its respective teams in 2011.

Grigg said it was vital to carry positivity into the pre-season, particularly with how Richmond held off the Demons after they hit the front twice in the final quarter.

"It will get our tails up for next season, because when we're playing the way we're supposed to, the way Damien [Hardwick] wants us to, we're hard to stop," he said.

"There were a couple of times earlier in the year when we were challenged and maybe rolled over, so it was good to just see the young group stand up and in that last quarter and run it out well.

"It will be good for the young boys, especially for their confidence, to finish off well."

Grigg came to Richmond in the trade period last October, with his former club Carlton dealing with the Tigers to finalise a straight swap for Andrew Collins.

Grigg played eight senior games in his final year at the Blues, after a patch of VFL appearances in the first half of the season. 

The 23-year-old said the move to Punt Road had made him a "more rounded player" after he requested to trade in his navy blue strip for the yellow and black.

"I had to work on aspects of my game in the off-season and have a sit down with [ruck/midfield coach] Brendon Lade and Damien and see how they wanted me to play and where they wanted me to play," he said.

"It's been good. I had to get used to the way the game plan is, because there were some changes from club to club, so it was more about getting the ball the way we wanted to move it and defensively how we wanted to set up.

"The quicker I could learn that, the better it was."

This year, he's missed just one game with a broken eye socket - round 18 against Geelong - and feels he's a better player having strung together his most consistent season since 2008, when he played 20 games.

"I've fitted in pretty well," he said.

"The body is holding up well and I'm enjoying it. It's good to be considered a vital cog in the team and to be a leader as well.

"They targeted three mature players and we've gelled well together and it's been good fun."

He also says the Tigers' other two mature-aged acquisitions from the 2010 off-season - Brad Miller and Bachar Houli, who also played key roles against the Demons on Sunday - had been important to the side this year.blog comments powered by Disqus