Deputy vice captain Phoebe Monahan says Friday's landmark AFLW match will be "a night to remember" for the entire Richmond Football Club.

Despite the end result, the 26-year-old said running out under Friday night lights to the roar of the Tiger Army was an "amazing" experience.

"As soon as we ran out and the song was playing and everyone got up for the Yellow and Black it was like 'wow, there’s a lot of Yellow and Black out here at Ikon Park'," Monahan said.

"We were down on the scoreboard but as soon as we got it going our way and got on the scoreboard ourselves, we knew we had a lot of fans out there.

"It was great and the girls really thrived off that."

The Tigers gained momentum late in the game, and while it was too late to reverse Carlton’s third-quarter scoreboard damage, it was a valuable indication of what the side is capable of.

"We definitely had patches where we played the way we wanted to," Monahan said.

"Credit to Carlton, they’re a great side, they were in the Grand Final last year and they deserved the win because they played their way for the majority of the game.

"We’re looking to work on what we can and we’ll take that into next week."

The experienced defender made a statement in her first season opener.

The former Giant topped the Tigers’ disposal count with 14 and also laid eight tackles, including six before half-time.

Monahan's stellar performance earned her two votes in the AFLCA AFLW Champion Player of the Year award and a spot in the backline in the AFLW Team of the Week.

Led by Monahan, Richmond’s defensive unit was successful in thwarting their opposition’s opportunities in the first half, the Blues generating 21 inside-50s but only able to covert one goal.

"Our main focus was to be hard to beat and I think for a lot of the game we were," Monahan said.

"It was under the pump down there a little bit and we just tried to work together and focus on the basics and keep the communication up and do what we could.

"It was all a learning experience and we’ll look forward to working on it next week."

It will be another historic occasion for the Tigers next week, who are off to to the Gold Coast for their first interstate trip in what will be the Suns’ inaugural home game.

Monahan is looking forward to squaring off against another expansion side and implementing Round 1 learnings.

"We just want to put into practice the way we want to play and hopefully we can get the four points up there," she said.