RICHMOND has tuned up for the finals with a thrilling three-point win against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
The Coleman Medal is Jack Riewoldt's to lose after the spearhead kicked five goals to extend his lead over the field in the Tigers' victory over the Bulldogs.
Riewoldt, who also kicked his 600th career goal on Saturday, becoming just the fifth Tiger to reach the milestone, must now wait and see if North Melbourne's Ben Brown or Sydney's Lance Franklin can pass his season tally of 65.
Brown is on 58 goals ahead of Sunday's clash with St Kilda while Franklin is on 57 with the Swans' big game against Hawthorn to come on Saturday night.
Earlier on Saturday, Geelong's Tom Hawkins fell out of contention with two goals against Gold Coast to leave him with 58 for the year.
While coach Damien Hardwick admitted there had been a subconscious tendency for the players to look for Riewoldt, with 24 of their 50 forward entries fired in his direction, the award would be fitting for what's been an impressive year for the vice-captain.
"He's had a great season," Hardwick said after the game.
"He always was a great player, but he's become an even better player, which is really pleasing.
"He's one of those players that just works on something and gets better every year so we're very lucky he's become such a formidable player for us."
All eyes were on Riewoldt as the Tigers extended their MCG winning streak to 21 in the dead rubber final round match, although Bulldogs midfielder Jack Macrae did all he could to steal the limelight.
Macrae had 43 disposals in the plucky Dogs' performance, which threatened to undo the Tigers' run to the finals thanks to their quick, crisp ball movement and play-on-at-all-costs mentality.
Their performance capped off an impressive month for the 2016 premiers and will give them plenty of positivity heading into pre-season.
In the see-sawing contest, the Dogs led for the majority of the first half and by as much as 17 points at one stage with Lachie Hunter also finding plenty of the ball.
They even had a chance to steal it with less than a minute remaining when nine-gamer Brad Lynch lined up a tricky set shot from the boundary that resulted in a point.
But the Tigers, clearly in self-preservation mode on the eve of finals, meandered their way to the final siren to win 15.8 (98) to 14.11 (95) and were lucky to hang on.
They knew before the game they'd finish on top of the ladder regardless, although the win confirmed their first official minor premiership since 1982.
With an eye surely on their MCG qualifying final in two weeks, it was understandable the usually-tenacious Tigers were untypically timid, especially early in the game.
The Dogs, led by Macrae, Hunter and Jason Johannisen, put together their best first quarter for the season with the Tigers reluctant to get their hands dirty.
They recorded just two tackles to the Dogs' 10 in the opening 12 minutes and finished with eight for the quarter, while their pressure deserted them and their backline made uncharacteristic errors.
They finished the game with 46 tackles, well below their season average of 62.5, with a bit of "bruise-free footy" filtering into their game.
The "wrong" Jack was the prolific goal-kicker in the first quarter with Jack Graham booting three to keep the Tigers within arm's reach.
With the Coleman almost certainly run and won with Riewoldt set to become the first Tiger to win a third, a second consecutive Brownlow Medal could also be headed to Punt Road with Dustin Martin dominating for a third-straight week.
While those elements of self-preservation crept into his game at times, Martin finished with 33 possessions, nine clearances and 12 inside 50s.
RICHMOND 5.1 7.7 12.8 15.8 (98)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 6.0 8.3 11.6 14.11 (95)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 5, Graham 3, Castagna 2, Rioli, Martin, Caddy, Nankervis, McIntosh
Western Bulldogs: Gowers 3, Dunkley 2, Lynch 2, Schache, Greene, Trengove, Macrae, Richards, Williams, Wallis
BEST
Richmond: Riewoldt, Martin, Nankervis, Graham, Edwards
Western Bulldogs: Macrae, Hunter, Dunkley, Daniel
INJURIES
Richmond: TBC
Western Bulldogs: Lipinski (concussion)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Schmitt, Pannell, Glouftsis
Official crowd: 56,998 at MCG
More to come.
