A strong start was a key component of Richmond’s planning for last Friday night’s clash with Fremantle at Domain Stadium.

The Tigers were fully aware of the importance of keeping the crowd at bay in hostile territory – and they did it in brilliant style, slamming on 8.1 to 3.1 in the opening term on their way to a convincing 27-point win.

“We did have a focus of being able to silence them,” spirited small forward Steve Morris told ‘Roar Vision’ post-match.

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“They’ve been really good in first quarters this year, especially . . . I think they’ve only lost the one for the year.  So we had a focus of trying to silence their crowd and keep their impact to a minimum.

“We were able to do that in the first quarter and then really grind it out from there . . .

“I certainly don’t think we’ve played footy that good all year, so to be able to do it against the best team in the competition was really satisfying.

“A lot of the stuff that we planned to do, we did really well, especially in that first quarter, and it enabled us to get a bit of a kick on them going into the second quarter.”

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Morris rated the capacity of the Richmond forwards to maximise their opportunities as a key factor in the success against the Dockers.

“Earlier in the year, when we lost a couple of games, we actually won the inside-50 count and didn’t win the game,” he said. 

“So it’s pleasing to see, the last few weeks, we’ve been able to go inside our forward 50 with a little bit more precision and be able to capitalise on the scoreboard as a result.”