Richmond captain Trent Cotchin doesn't believe in fairytales.
Not yet anyway.
The 12th-placed Tigers go into Saturday night's AFL round-21 clash with seventh-placed Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on a six-game winning streak and face a virtual elimination final.
Richmond (9-10 win-loss) are a game outside the top eight with three rounds remaining, but their fans are daring to dream.
"We're going to be very excited about taking it to them and hopefully beating them," Cotchin told reporters on Wednesday at the AFL International Cup.
"There's a lot of hype around in the papers and your supporters get excited by it.
"The reality is we need to perform come Saturday night and if we don't then that's not even possible.
"We haven't really looked further than that.
"Talk about fairytales and so forth. We're not really interested in that.
"We just want to perform for four quarters against a quality opposition on Saturday night and then who knows where from there?"
Ivan Maric's battle in the ruck with Adelaide's in-form big man Sam Jacobs will be crucial to Richmond's fortunes.
"Big Ivan has been outstanding and we know Sammy Jacobs can put it on a platter for their mids," Cotchin said.
"If there's one determined guy it's big Ivan. We love playing with him."
Maric joined Richmond from Adelaide for the 2012 season and had an immediate impact, claiming a top-three finish in the club's best-and-fairest award.
The long-haired ruckman changed the attitude of Richmond's midfield, Cotchin said.
"Whether that be on or off the field, he's a great leader of our group," Cotchin said
Maric's return from injury in round 11 helped spark Richmond's surge.
The Tigers also challenged their training standards.
"That was probably our turning point along with a number of other things," Cotchin said.
"A few of our senior players came back into the side and started to get some continuity into their game.
"We just started to play with that desire and belief that we know we can."
Cotchin said he hoped the game would continue to grow at international level.
"Hopefully we start to see draft picks coming from all over the world," he said.
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