YOUNG Richmond gun Nathan Foley says the team is looking forward to getting out on the road this weekend, as they trek to the harbour city to take on the Swans.

A road trip was a fun thing for the players, the 22-year-old said.

"Absolutely, we all enjoy getting away," he said. "Spending a lot of time together – eating tea, getting up and having breakfast and all that together, so it's a good experience, and a lot of the boys enjoy getting interstate."

It's no wonder Foley likes the road this year – the Tigers have only made one trip this season, albeit the long one to Subiaco, and they smashed the Dockers to the sweet tune of 64 points, a result he says gave them confidence heading into a tough month and a tough match interstate this weekend.

"Like Terry (Wallace, Richmond coach) said, we don't go on past things too much, but as always, we go into the game confident and trying to win, just looking for that continued improvement, through the likes of Shane Edwards, and Matty White, and Richard Tambling and all these blokes.”

Despite the Tigers having just three wins and a draw after nine rounds, Foley said the team was winning back the respect it had lost in recent years.

"Yeah, the way the way we're going about our football, in terms of tackling pressure and just the way we're attacking the footy, I think is definitely gaining back a bit of respect throughout the rest of the league.

"A lot of hard work went in over the preseason and it has definitely been a progression over a long period of time.

"I think when we went over to Perth and played Fremantle, we clicked quite well as a group, and just the increase in tackle pressure and that sort of stuff helped the penny drop a bit."

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL