Steven Morris certainly knows the pressure of expectations - he gets a dose of it every time he fronts up for a family dinner.
His dad is Kevin Morris, a two-time premiership player with the Tigers in the 1970s.
This is where Steven plays now, as the club eyes its first finals appearance since 2001.
"Don't worry, he lets me know about it," Steven joked.
"He'd be pretty keen for the club to return to playing consistant finals footy and hopefully in my time have a premiership too."
Nobody at the club wants to talk about it, especially after their hiding at the hands of the Kangaroos on the weekend, but the Tigers could be a finals team this year. Sitting sixth with eight games left in the regular season, the Tigers' destiny is in their hands.
"You'd like to think we'll be there this year," Morris said, while looking down at the crowd that had gathered to watch them train late last week at Melbourne's famous Punt Road Oval.
"There's a gret feel around the place; this time last year we struggled to get people at training to watch but they're upbeat this year."
Morris was one of few to stand tall in their horrid round 15 loss to North Melbourne on Saturday afternoon. He has been one of the big reasons for the Tigers' resurgence since debuting last season. The 24-year-old plays a hard brand of football, no coincidence given his hard-earned graduation to the AFL.
Overlooked on two occasions for the draft as a teenager, he packed his bags for South Australia and the fiercely contested SANFL.
Knee and shoulder operations plagued the four-year stint, but when he got healthy it was enough to impress the Tigers and send him back to his father's club.
"I never really considered giving up, but I knew it'd be really difficult to get on an AFL list because they weren't picking up mature-age players with injury concerns," he said.
"But here we are - at the right club at the right time and loving it." He said having first-hand accounts of the proud history at Tigerland meant it was an easy transition.
"It made it easier to love the club, having dad talk with pride about his days playing in premierships. I've known guys like Tom Hafey, Kevin Sheedy and Francis Bourke and how good they were."
The hard time his father gives him is matched by a now 60,000 strong membership base that wants its team in the finals.
Morris believes the side has grown since flirting with the prospect and failing in 2012.
"We can handle everything that goes with the pressure of playing up there in Cairns and being expected to win (v Gold Coast Suns)," he said.
"There were a few hard truths after that game last year, it was a flat flight back and no one really spoke to each other. "We're just desperate to turn that around."
Last Modified on 13/08/2013 15:49