Richmond has been dealt a disappointing loss by North Melbourne on Friday night, falling to the Kangaroos by 37 points at Marvel Stadium.

The Roos did everything right throughout, putting pressure on their Tiger opponents and using the ball well around the ground, apart from in front of goal in the first half when wayward scoring attempts looked like being costly.

However, in the third quarter they switched on the radar, kicking five goals straight and stretching a four-point lead to a matchwinning 33 points at the final break.

Little went right for Richmond despite another superb performance from Dustin Martin, who slotted three goals and had 21 touches.

Bolstered by the return of skipper Trent Cotchin from a long-term hamstring injury, the Tigers started promisingly but were uncharacteristically sloppy with ball in hand and were beaten convincingly around the ball.

Bachar Houli was collected hard and left the field early in the first term, but returned to the field to continue his rich vein of form, finishing as the Tigers' best with a career-high 38 disposals.

Richmond have a tough challenge to get back on the winning track as they face Geelong at the MCG next Friday night.

NORTH MELBOURNE    4.1   6.7  12.7  15.9 (99)
RICHMOND                  3.1   6.3   7.4    9.8 (62)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Brown 5, Wood 4, Anderson 2, Larkey, Simpkin, Polec, Thomas
Richmond: Martin 3, Butler 2, Lynch, Castagna, Prestia, Astbury

BEST
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Wood, Anderson, Brown, Cunnington, Higgins, 
Richmond: Houli, Martin, Cotchin, Baker, Stack

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Macmillan (calf), Turner (ribs/shoulder)
Richmond: TBC

Reports: Nil 

Umpires: Margetts, Chamberlain, Hay

Official crowd: 29,326 at Marvel Stadium