Brett Deledio has no doubt as to the driving factor behind his new-found status as Richmond's youngest best and fairest winner since Matthew Knights in 1990.
In fact the 21-year-old - who took out his first Jack Dyer Medal on Wednesday night ahead of Shane Tuck and Matthew Richardson - can pinpoint the exact moment when he began to live up to the promise he has shown ever since being taken at pick one in the 2004 national draft.
It came after Round One this year after the Tigers had beaten arch-rivals Carlton in the season opener but Deledio - who so much was expected of this season as he entered his fourth year in the AFL having taken out the 2005 AFL Rising Star Award - had a shocker, managing just 13 possessions.
Enter his father Wayne, who played one game for Carlton back in 1975 and the man who has been Deledio's mentor throughout his football career.
"Dad told me a few home truths after round one and that is the main reason why I am standing up here," Deledio said, upon accepting the Tigers' 2008 best and fairest award.
Later Deledio told Sportal that his heart-to-heart chat with his father after Round One had proved the catalyst for his stunning season in which he ended the season with 538 disposals in 22 matches - having never previously registered 400 possessions in his three previous seasons.
"We just had a bit of a chat, I don't want to disclose too much but basically he just said I need to work on a few things and the way I go about it," Deledio told Sportal.
"From day one my Dad has taught me all I know about football and I can't thank him enough and I love him to bits for how he has gone about it."
Deledio, who averaged just over 24 disposals and seven marks per game this season, said he was humbled to join the likes of Jack Dyer, Wayne Campbell and Knights as Richmond's best and fairest winners but especially current teammates Joel Bowden, Matthew Richardson, Kane Johnson and Mark Coughlan - who between them have won the previous five best and fairests at Punt Road.
"I was pretty emotional when it first came about, I might have shed a couple of tears but it is starting to sink in a bit now," he said.
"You look at Matthew Richardson, he is an absolute star, and Joel won it back-to-back and then Kane Johnson and Mark Coughlan and to be put in the same category with those guys - I'm very humbled."
Another feature of Deledio's season was his impact up forward where he booted 28 goals and was number one at Richmond for goal assists with 19.
But as Deledio begins to show just why the Tigers took him at pick one in that 2004 national draft - ahead of much-heralded Hawthorn pair Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin, who were taken at picks two and five - the pressure on him to continue improving next season is already there.
Richardson, in accepting his sixth top-three finish in a Richmond best and fairest plus an incredible 13th leading goalkicker award at Tigerland, said Deledio had only begun discovering the depth of his talent.
"He has still got massive improvement in him and we have had a few chats about