Greater Western Sydney are training with loud music to get used to an MCG roar of 90,000 fans, but Richmond playmaker Shane Edwards says there’ll be no accounting for the club’s “priceless” AFL support.

Saturday afternoon’s preliminary final could be the most one-sided crowd in AFL history and Edwards believes it will have tangible benefits.

“You feel like you’ve got a whole army behind you ... like you’ve got momentum just by taking a nice mark or doing one good play. It feels like you’ve kicked three goals,” he said.



Success-starved Tigers fans have been in full voice over the past two months as Damien Hardwick’s team firmed for the finals and all but a few thousand at the MCG on Saturday will be Tigers faithful. “It’s priceless,” Edwards said of the Richmond support.

Edwards predicted ex-Tiger and “great servant” Brett Deledio, who previously held the mantle as the longest-serving man at Punt Road, would get the treatment from the packed stands.



“On the weekend he’s just another GWS player,” he said. “The Tiger army are pretty ruthless.”

Eleven seasons since being drafted to Punt Road, Edwards is dreaming of grand final glory. “I’m running around the oval celebrating,” he said. “I can’t control it. I’m sure everyone dreams about that all the time.”

On Saturday afternoon, the 28-year-old will run out for the first preliminary final of his 205-game career. Alongside him will be at least three others from Richmond’s bountiful draft class of 2006.

Jack Riewoldt was taken with pick 13 by the Tigers, while Edwards was snapped up with the club’s second selection at 26. Three other 2006 draftees have since made their way to Punt Road and remain important figures at the club.

Bachar Houli, Essendon’s No42 pick, joined the Tigers seven seasons ago. Carlton’s top two selections after first choice Bryce Gibbs – Shaun Hampson and Shaun Grigg – are also now Tigers.

Back-up ruckman Hampson has had an injury-cruelled campaign and is unlikely to earn a senior recall, but the other four are only one win away from what would be their maiden AFL grand final appearances.

Edwards said he wanted to see if the reality matched the dream. “You can’t really control what you dream about. It happens every now and then and you wake up and you say ‘no, it’s the process’,” he said.

“At the club we say ‘why not us?’ We saw last year with the Bulldogs [the premiers] can come from anywhere. [Our message] is not necessarily ‘this is our time’ but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.”