FOR RICHMOND defender Jay Schulz, 2009 is all about bridging the gap between his good performances and his poor ones.

The 23-year-old played 18 games this year and, although he felt it was his most consistent season since his 2003 debut, he knows there's plenty of scope to improve again.

"I'm happy, but not over-excited," he told richmondfc.com.au. "My expectation on myself this year was to play all 22 games and that didn’t happen, but that’s footy – nothing ever works out the way you want it to.

"Because I’ve been so up and down in previous years – one week good, the next week absolute rubbish – I need to make my lows not as low, trying to find the middle, which I think I have improved on this year."

Forty-nine appearances in five years, including just four in 2005 after an early-season ankle injury, encouraged Schulz to re-assess what he could offer the side as it looked to rebound from finishing on the bottom of the ladder.

He gave coach Terry Wallace an option in the key positions or a rebounding role, his size complementing the side's running backmen as well as teammates working to nullify opposition targets.

Schulz believes his fitness was something that may have held him back in previous years, but has got it to a level that encourages him to have a greater impact on games.

"Fitness has always been the biggest thing that I’ve always tried to improve, so I’ll just keep working with that," he said.

"I'm starting to realise as well that if I play consistent footy, I can have a big impact on how we’re going."

After three wins and a draw in 2007, the Tigers knew the first half of the new campaign was going to be tough.

Two wins, two losses and another draw came in the first five rounds, before they slipped to Hawthorn, St Kilda and Geelong.

But round nine's victory over Essendon showed an important resolve and a second triumph over the Bombers (in round 16) was flanked by wins over West Coast and the Brisbane Lions.

Suddenly, the Tigers were in finals contention.

"We battled early – we had a really tough draw in the first half of the year, and we knew that was the case, and we knew the second half of the year would be our opportunity," Schulz said.

"Our expectation was to play finals and we were almost there. We were only half a win off."

And Schulz is confident his teammates, under new captain Chris Newman, can make a charge for September this time around.

The belief is similar to the philosophy he has for himself – the potential is there, it's just a matter of finding the best of it.

"We definitely have to make the finals next year, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t," he said.

"We’ve got that much talent in our side. The boys are starting to grow together, and we’ve got games into a lot of younger players now.

"The second half of the year showed that we’re starting to understand how each other plays and we’re starting to stick to our disciplines that we’ve put in place."