The papers are full of tall Tiger tales and the beers are flowing in Richmond pubs, and Canberra's Ivan Soldo is right in the thick of the AFL's grandest stage.
The former junior ACT basketball star laughs it would be "a good time to own a pub in Richmond" with the Tigers on the cusp of their first premiership in 37 years.
The 21-year-old ruckman won't add to his seven AFL games in the decider against the Adelaide Crows at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
But the buzz around town has made Soldo determined to reach new heights on one of the AFL's more remarkable journeys.
The hype around Richmond is like nothing Soldo has ever experienced and he is "burning" to ditch the suit he'll wear on Saturday and wear his coveted No. 47 jumper in a grand final down the track.
"As soon as I came to Melbourne I realised how big it was, especially compared to Canberra. It's mad over here," Soldo said.
"Especially now that Richmond are in the finals, there's a lot of people with the yellow and black flags outside their house in Richmond and even spread across Melbourne.
"This whole week, Richmond will be vibrant - and the pubs especially, it would be a good time to own a pub in Richmond.
"Papers are full of yellow and black but it's not too bad internally. Obviously everyone is excited, but everyone is keeping their cool as well which is good.
"We have to train and all that stuff so we don't get caught up with all that rubbish. Everyone is dealing with it so well, everyone is level-headed.
"There's definitely been more fans out the front of training and more fans rocking up to open training sessions. There's been characters at the club which is pretty fun."
Soldo was gearing up to play for Richmond in the VFL grand final last week before being overlooked by the selectors and it's fuelling his desire to reach a new level next year.
The Tigers had a shot to win the premiership after the siren but it missed and they went down to Port Melbourne by four points on Sunday.
The misfire after the siren has lit the fire for not only Soldo, but the entire club - watching the reserves go down provided the seniors with a reminder of what's at stake.
"The VFL final didn't go the way we wanted it to. Everyone was shattered but it also gives the AFL boys a bit of motivation, to see how torn up we were, they don't want to feel like that," Soldo said.
"I didn't play VFL, I was actually ready to play but they just went with experience, the selectors. I'm obviously burning because of it.
"It's tough to explain to people what happened but the real tough part would have been for the coaches to make the decision. It's a reality so I've got to just cop it."
The former basketball player's rise to the AFL is a remarkable one given he had barely laid boot to ball before he joined the Tigers as a category B rookie in 2014.
Soldo found himself knocking on the door at Punt Road after his cousin - retiring Richmond cult hero Ivan Maric - showed club officials a photo of the pair of them together.
At 204 centimetres and 106 kilograms, Soldo is the bigger cousin and he was named to make his AFL debut against reigning premiers the Western Bulldogs just hours after being elevated to the senior list in May.
