LAST Thursday the Tigers put very little physical pressure on Carlton and got caned in the season opener.

This week the Tigers have gone for hardness and the ability to exert physical pressure when making their five changes for the team to play Geelong, and one selected for that quality is Tom Hislop, along with Jake King and rookie Robin Nahas.

Hislop was taken at No. 20 in the 2006 NAB AFL draft by Essendon, but after just seven games in two years at Windy Hill he was delisted and the Tigers snapped him up at the bargain pick of 58.

The 20-year-old was highly rated as a junior for his tackling and his ability to win the contested possession.

He said the message this week has been an obvious one.

“The emphasis this week has been on our tackling and our physical pressure,” he told richmondfc.com.au.

“Last week in the VFL I had a few tackles and chases, so that would have been one of the reasons I’ve been selected for this game.

“The message this week was pretty simple – just that we need to be competitive, hard at the footy, chase hard, tackle hard.”

Hislop admitted he was not surprised he didn’t make the squad for round one.

“I was obviously disappointed to miss the Carlton game – it’d been a long summer and I really would have liked to have been in that team, but I really didn’t think my form was good enough to warrant a game,” he said.

“I’d set myself to play round one. I got a pretty good pre-season in, which was good, so I was definitely aiming to be in the ones early on in the year, so it’s worked out well.”

Changing clubs is never an easy thing to do, but Hislop said the Tigers had welcomed him with open arms.

“It’s been great, everyone at Punt Road has been really welcoming and made me feel a part of it.

“Footy clubs are footy clubs, really. They’re good blokes at Essendon, and really good blokes at Richmond as well, so I’ve fitted in pretty easily.”

The players left out of the side to play Geelong are injured duo Andrew Raines and Ben Cousins plus Jordan McMahon, Andrew Browne and Will Thursfield.

Those coming in are Alex Rance, King, Hislop, Angus Graham and Nahas.