That they have not won a final since 2004, and a flag since 2000, prompted triple-premiership Richmond great Jack Riewoldt to suggest on Fox Footy they no longer belong in the same bracket as Carlton, Collingwood and the Tigers as one of the traditional big-four Victorian power clubs.

McKay said Riewoldt’s comments were ignorant, but there was a caveat.

“Factually, we are a big club, so not sure what Jack is talking about there. You look at the weekend, there were, what, 75,000, 80,000 [attendance] there. Our history is our history – we are very proud of it. You know, our attendance is amazing,” McKay said.

The Bombers, Magpies and Blues have each won 16 VFL-AFL premierships – a league record.

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However, McKay said the Bombers had work to do to be relevant again when it comes to on-field results, which, as club officials pointed out to this masthead, remains the bottom line.

“Yeah, we want to be relevant again in terms of on-field performance. And that’s the biggest selling point, isn’t it? Winning games. So, I can understand [Riewoldt’s comments] from that point of view,” McKay said.

“We understand that when we’re winning games, winning finals, there’s going to be even more noise around us in a good way. So, in terms of that, that’s something we’re striving for … but, I think, clearly we’re a big-four club. I think that’s a bit ignorant, yeah.”

Heading into Sunday’s clash, Scott is under pressure to find a defensive system that holds up with the likes of Mason Redman, skipper Andrew McGrath, Zach Reid and McKay as key pillars.

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While there are mitigating circumstances, including youth, as Scott has pointed out, the Bombers have now conceded a whopping combined 49 marks in their defensive 50 over their past two home-and-away games – 26 against Gold Coast in round 24 last year, and 24 against the Hawks.

It’s the third-worst stretch by any team over the past five years.

“I think it is on us older guys to lead the way, though. I mean, we can’t rely on the younger guys, just because they are high picks, to lead the way. And we made that pretty clear the last couple of days, that the leadership group and us older guys need to pave the way forward for them,” McKay said.

The Bombers are confident dynamic small forward Isaac Kako (hamstring) will be fit to face the Power.