Richmond defender Bachar Houli says he’s confident he will re-sign with the Tigers sooner rather than later.
Houli remains uncontracted for 2020 despite a stellar season that has seen him claim his first All Australian guernsey.
“Yeah, I think it’s (a new contract) not too far. I’m sure the club’s working with my management to get the deal done,” Houli said on Friday.
“But hopefully something should be done pretty soon.”
Houli earned his maiden All Australian selection off the back of a career-best season where has has averaged 28.4 disposals and 6.3 marks playing across half-back.
The 31-year-old wouldn’t be drawn on whether his recent honour would affect his contract situation but said he was “humbled” by his selection alongside teammate Dylan Grimes.
“I’m extremely humbled by it, I’m sure Dylan is as well,” he said.
“It’s something that was … (a) last second thing and it’s truly an honour and it’s something that I’ll cherish probably later part of my career – I mean, it is the later part of my career – probably after football where you know, you kind of reflect on achievements etcetera.
“But, you know, the great thing is we’ve achieved the grand final (in 2017), which was very, very special … definitely the highest achievement that someone can achieve and hopefully we can back that up in the near future as well.”
The Tigers will head to Brisbane next week for their qualifying final at the Gabba, having spent their past seven games at the MCG.
Houli said Richmond would relish the opportunity to face the Lions for the second time in three weeks.
“I don’t think there’s much difference apart from the travel component of it that we’ll prepare as normal as every game,” he said.
“Apparently it’s a very similar deck to the MCG in terms of size. That’s what Dimma (Damien Hardwick) mentioned last week, so we’ve travelled pretty well along our journey – we’ll take a lot of confidence out of that and prepare as normal.
“We’ve been in the same situation or the same place for a few years now. And you know, we’re just excited for another opportunity and obviously another chance to play against a real, real quality team.”