A jovial Damien Hardwick has channelled his inner Donald Trump attempting to drum up excitement around Richmond's prospects for season 2017.
"Let's make Richmond great again!," Hardwick declared with a smirk as he approached a presidential-looking lectern in the Punt Road Oval theatrette for his first media conference of the year.
Hardwick has been known to have the odd run-in with media types but there were certainly no signs of walls being built on Thursday - perhaps because it is February and every team is level.
But bubbling below the smiling surface is the inescapable reality that 2017 shapes as a defining year for both Richmond and Hardwick.
After three consecutive first-week exits from the finals, the Tigers fell short of the top eight last season and Hardwick is left with the unwanted record of having coached the most games in VFL/AFL history without a finals win (154).
It's been a long time since "greatness" was associated with Richmond, with just two finals wins since 1982.
While Hardwick is contracted until the end of 2018, he would face an uphill battle to see out the deal if Richmond failed to make the finals again this season.
However the club's third-longest serving coach expects to make finals in 2017.
"I don't apologise for putting the expectation bar up high. That's the sort of club (we are) and person I am," Hardwick said.
"We're confident with the playing group that we've got that we're capable of playing, when we play our best, that style of footy (that leads to finals)."
There has been plenty of upheaval at Punt Road in the off-season too. A board challenge emerged and fizzled, five of Hardwick's coaching lieutenants departed, Neil Balme joined as footy manager, Brett Deledio and Ty Vickery left while Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis arrived.
Hardwick believes the changes gave the club momentum and he is keen to harness it.
"I'm really excited by the freshness," he said.
"Our players are in a good space at the moment; we've had a pretty good pre-season.
"Last year was disappointing. We accept that but we're looking to move forward now."
Hardwick revealed one of the team's main focuses over the summer was improving ball movement from defence to attack. He also conceded his players may have been "over-coached" last season.
"We want our players to play to their strengths," he said. "We've got to free them up a bit."
Jack Riewoldt has spent the last three seasons out of the club's leadership group but Hardwick said the leadership the star forward provided wasn't dependent on beingin the leadership group.
"He's a leader in his own right," Hardwick said.
"The fact of the matter is Jack's leadership has improved every year. Whether we've got leaders above him or beyond him, we've only got a certain amount of spots for leaders. We don't have a large leadership group. If we have 10 then he's probably in, if we've got five then it's probably touch and go."
Hardwick was confident Trent Cotchin would captain the side for a fifth consecutive year in 2017, which would make him the longest-serving Tigers skipper since Dale Weightman 25 years ago.
Richmond are expected to finalise their 2017 leadership group in the next couple of weeks.