Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has praised his team's ability to win "ugly", after the Tigers overcame a 15-point deficit at the final change to clinch an important victory over Greater Western Sydney.
 
The in-form Tigers were held to just five goals by the final change in sloppy conditions at the MCG, but responded to Hardwick's impassioned three-quarter time message to kick 5.6 in the last term and overcome the Giants by nine points.
 
Hardwick said the Giants had made the Tigers earn the win, and that it was another sign of the group's growth that they had been able to withstand the pressure.

He highlighted the excellent game of captain Trent Cotchin, who gathered 33 disposals and kicked two goals, and who the coach had asked to lift in the final term.
 
WATCH: The highlights of Richmond’s last quarter fightback
 
"I just asked them to respond. A young club in their infancy challenged us, [I said] 'Let's see if we can lift our intensity not only to match theirs but to go above and beyond'," Hardwick said post-game.

"I thought we were really disappointing in our intensity early on, [and] at various stages I thought they outworked us.

"We just challenged our leaders to respond, and Trent had an outstanding game. Our players didn't have the best day but at various stages stood up and had their moments."
 
Richmond has registered some important wins away from home this season, including stirring interstate victories against Port Adelaide, Fremantle and the Sydney Swans in the past six rounds.

Although their form at home has been patchier, they play eight of their last nine games of the season in Melbourne, giving them a strong platform from which to launch a potential finals assault.
 
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"If we don't come to play or play anywhere near our best, sides are capable of beating other side at the drop of a hat, we have just got to continue to go about our process, make sure we believe in what we are doing and make sure we get the results we are after," Hardwick said.

"I thought our ball use inside forward (50) was very poor, especially in the first half."
 
Hardwick acknowledged the difficult build-up to the game, after the sudden and shocking death of Adelaide coach Phil Walsh on Friday.
 
Walsh was a former player at Richmond, having registered 40 games in the yellow and black between 1984-86, but had many current links at the club, including Hardwick, who played under him at Port Adelaide when Walsh was a long-standing assistant.

Richmond assistants Mark Williams and Brendon Lade were also at Port Adelaide during Walsh's coaching stint there, as was Tigers list manager Blair Hartley.

Hardwick said the club had raised the issue with the group in the lead-up to the game.
 
"I think the football world has an enormous amount of respect for Phil Walsh, he has touched all of us in a way that some of us wouldn't even know," Hardwick said.
 
"I look back on his time when I was a player at Port Adelaide, he was doing things back in 2002-03 and 2004 that we are still doing now, but he didn't have the stats packages we have now. He had an outstanding football brain, innovation could have been his middle name.

"What he has done for the game from a coaching point of view can never be undone."