Cuz no show at training but Tigers stay upbeatBy Jason Phelan
12:00 PM Thu 13 May, 2010DESPITE losing the opening seven matches, and possibly being without Ben Cousins for the round-eight clash with the Hawks, Richmond onballer Daniel Jackson is confident the team's first premiership points are close by.
Cousins was a notable absentee from the Tigers' main training session on Thursday, but Jackson said the mood had remained positive at Punt Road thanks in large part to the efforts of coach Damien Hardwick.
"It's totally different to last year because … the coaches have got their plan in place, they're pushing it to us [and] we're optimistic about what we're doing," Jackson said from Victoria Park.
"The young players are exuberant and love being out there and playing and the older guys are fit and up and running so there's light at the end of the tunnel.
"Each week we can see the progression we've made whereas last year it was more of a downhill spiral."
With his side now mired at the bottom of the ladder after the Crows chalked their first win of the season last week, Jackson was asked if he had sensed any frustration from the Tiger army.
"To be honest that's been the amazing part; the Richmond fans have been fantastic," he said.
"I was walking through the city yesterday and I had three different people pull me up and say 'stick with it Tiges - I know we'll come good' which to me is a bit amazing.
"You'd expect to see or hear a little more disgruntlement from them, but they're really optimistic and can see all the positives as well."
The Tigers were right in the hunt against Adelaide before a last-quarter fadeout, but Jackson said the team still took plenty away from the performance.
"We probably went to save it a little bit and went into our shells rather than continuing what we'd done for the first three quarters, but that will put us in good stead for the rest of the year," he said.
"Eventually we'll get one of these four-quarter games together and it will make a big difference."
Jackson said Richmond was paying the price for lapsing off in one quarter of each of its games this season - a trait he put down to inexperience.
"We're a young group and it's a confidence thing and it costs us … but it'll come."
The Hawks are set to be boosted by the return of Sam Mitchell, while Lance Franklin will once again pair up with Jarryd Roughead in attack but Jackson backed his teammates inside defensive 50 to effectively combat Hawthorn's twin towers.
"I'm sure they'll come out firing but we've just got to focus on what we've been doing," he said.
"We've got to come out and be physical like we were last week.
"We weren't physical enough against Geelong and they really put us back in our place, but that was the difference last week that really kept us in the game."
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