OUR FINALS chances have been a talking point for much of the year.

At the start, people said we would have to fight hard to work our way back into contention and then we were written off.

For the past few weeks we have had that dreaded 'mathematical possibility' tag hanging over us.

Well, it's round 22 now and we are still in with a chance despite winning just nine games.

It's quite a contrast with this time last year when we were safe and secure in second spot. This time around we've got to fight to the very end just to give ourselves the opportunity to make the eight.

This week's game against Essendon is going to be huge and in many ways it will be like a final.

We have a lot of young blokes running around who weren't in our side last year and I'm sure they will benefit from the experience.

As much as the finals are always the big-picture goal, our focus over the past couple of weeks has been to put four quarters of footy together.

This year has been disappointing because we haven't been able to do that and it just shows how important consistency from minute to minute, quarter to quarter and week to week can be.

Everyone at the club is doing their best to get us over the line.

This time last week, Jarryd Roughead was out for the season but he has recovered extremely well from knee surgery and could be available in the next couple of weeks if we make it that far.

Should we get him back at some stage it will be a huge advantage.

Needless to say, we're all disappointed to see that Buddy Franklin's appeal was dismissed on Thursday night.

It's not overstating things to say he'd be very handy to have in the side but losing him won't be the end of the world.

Buddy will simply be replaced by someone else in the 22 who will be expected to contribute.

It's not like we don't have options up forward. Beau Dowler stepped up to kick four goals last week against the Tigers in what was probably the best game he has played for the club.

He's played a few games now and that was about as comfortable as he's looked. He took some strong marks and moved well.

Like all young fellas, Beau just needs a bit of confidence and he will be an important player for us. For a young bloke coming in and playing footy, it does take three or four years before you can get the confidence in the game plan down pat.

The best part of our season is that the young fellas are getting used to senior football. It's only going to help our club in the future.

One person who we won't have in our camp this week is Damien Hardwick, who has been appointed coach of Richmond from 2010.

I've played a bit in the midfield again for the past four or five weeks and have worked closely with Damien in that time.

I have mentioned before in this column that when Damien started at Hawthorn, he had to work on the way he spoke to the group but I've seen him really improve over the past couple of years. He knows how to get his message across.

He has done a lot for our club and I'm really happy for him that he's got this opportunity.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.