Richmond sits on top of the ladder after seven rounds of footy with only one loss to their name, but doubts have been raised about the difficulty of their fixture.
The Tigers have played seven out of eight games at the MCG and have only played one team who made finals last year in Adelaide – who beat them.
Many have declared Richmond the best team in the competition despite this, but have they earned that title this year?
Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon said of course they’ve earned it.
“A lot of people are piling in, trust me. The Tigers are the real deal,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“Don’t worry about who they’re playing.
“They’ve played seven of their first eight at the MCG, they go and play North Melbourne at Etihad on the weekend and that’ll be an absolute cracker so we’ll find out a bit about the Kangaroos and a bit about the Tigers.
“If you’re a Richmond supporter just sit back, get your pipe out and relax.”
Richmond may not have played finalists from last year just yet, but they’ve beaten Melbourne, Collingwood and Hawthorn among their six wins.
All three teams missed September last year, but are on the rise and are teams expected to be in the race this season.
They’ve also had comfortable victories over Fremantle, Brisbane and Carlton, three teams they were expected to beat, conceding a combined 50 points to the Dockers and Lions.
The Tigers play North Melbourne on the weekend, another team that missed finals but are showing they’re the real deal in 2018.
They then play West Coast, Essendon (twice), Port Adelaide, Geelong (twice), Sydney, Adelaide and GWS across the rest of the season as well as Collingwood again.
Champion Data rated Richmond's draw as the second most difficult in the competition in the pre-season.
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