The Tigers sit third on the ladder, the highest they've been at this stage of the season since 1982.
They have played two bad games for the season – against Adelaide and St Kilda – with four of their six losses by fewer than 10 points.
Dustin Martin is the raging Brownlow favourite.
And the Tigers are tackling.
For the first time since coach Damien Hardwick took over in 2010, the Tigers have a positive tackling differential.
That's a change for a Tiger team that last season were the only AFL team to not have a single player lay 10 tackles in a game.
And skipper Trent Cotchin is leading the way.
In round 19, he passed 100 tackles in a season for the first time since his Brownlow medal winning season of 2012.
Twice he has laid 10 tackles in a game for this season and he is Richmond's leading tackler.
He sits 19th on the AFL's tackle count in 2017 with 106 tackles and needs just two more to break his 2012 tally.
The Tigers' pressure is forcing turnovers and allowing the ball to be swept forward with pace, where the mosquito fleet, Dan Rioli, Jason Castagna and Dan Butler, use irregular means to create goals.
The Tigers have laid the second most tackles inside forward 50, a huge turnaround from last season when they were last in the AFL.
That forward pressure means Richmond has spent 7.1 minutes more time in the forward half than their opposition, allowing the Tiger defence to set up behind the ball.
Pressure has made Richmond the hardest team to score against this season, conceding just 77.1 points a game on average.
Now the Tigers head to Geelong.
It's a tough ask.
Richmond has not beaten the Cats anywhere since winning at Simonds Stadium in round nine, 2006
• The Tiges have lost 19 of their past 20 games against Geelong
• They've only scored more than 100 points at Simonds Stadium once this century
• Not one player on the list has been involved in a win against the Cats wearing a Richmond jumper.
The Cats will be without skipper Joel Selwood; one bonus as Richmond has not managed to beat Geelong in 12 attempts with Selwood in the team.
But it's their game style that has changed, with pressure the key.
