Richmond interim coach Andrew McQualter conceded Sunday's win over West Coast did not represent the Tigers at their best. But, they had achieved what they needed to, breaking the scrappy game open with six unanswered goals either side of half-time.
The coach said he did not need to emphasise the finals opportunity in front of the 11th-placed team, which now sits just half a game behind sixth-placed St Kilda and in the thick of a mid-table jam.
"There's still a long time to go in the season and lots of room for us to grow and get better, so it's not something I have to dangle at the moment," McQualter said after the 38-point win.
"It’s a bloody even comp. The ladder position is what it is. We've just got to keep focusing on improving our footy and we'll end up where we end up.
"We came over here to get the job done and we were able to do that … it probably wasn't our best game of footy to be fair, but we certainly achieved what we tried to do."
McQualter lauded the performances of Dustin Martin (23 disposals, eight marks and two goals) and Daniel Rioli (31 disposals, 556 metres gained) against the Eagles.
"Dustin's putting together a pretty impressive season. The numbers he's able to consistently produce, but also the way he impacts games in different ways," McQualter said.
"He really controls the tone of our defence, which might sound surprising to some. The energy he gives us, he's in a great patch of form."
"It's an incredible amount of speed and work-rate that Daniel provides us. But I think, first and foremost, he defends really hard too... He provides a lot of run for us and we're lucky to have him in our team."
