A BRAVE third-quarter fightback from Richmond wasn't enough to get the Tigers over the line against Collingwood at the MCG on Friday night.

Richmond trailed by 50 points at half time, but cut that margin to 26 points by the end of the term after a six-goal quarter.

However the Magpies snuffed out any hope of a miraculous upset with a commanding nine-goal final term, running away to win 24.17 (161) to 13.12 (90).

The Magpies' forward pressure was telling early in the game as they dominated at stoppages and swarmed forward, forcing costly errors from Richmond's defence.

After the main break the Tigers, who had been unable to gain any penetration in the first half, started to get reward for their high-risk strategy of moving the ball through the corridor and playing on at all costs.

Brett Deledio, who had most of his disposals in Richmond's back half early in the match, was instrumental in the comeback, moving up the ground and using his slick foot skills to pick out forward targets.

Tigers youngsters Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin were also impressive, with Cotchin outstanding in the clinches and Martin kicking two clever goals.

But any hope of an against-the-odds victory was snuffed out early in the final term as Collingwood banged home six goals in the first 16 minutes to put the game well beyond Richmond's reach.

Richmond    2.2    5.7    11.10    13.12 (90)
Collingwood    8.6    13.9    15.12    24.17 (161)

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 4, Martin 2, White 2, Vickery, King, Miller, Deledio, Graham
Collingwood: Swan 4, Cloke 3, Sidebottom 3, Thomas 2, Dawes 2, Beams 2, Johnson, Pendlebury, Blair, Wood, Brown, Wellingham, Ball, Didak

BEST
Richmond: Deledio, Cotchin, Martin, Newman, Jackson
Collingwood: Swan, Thomas, Blair, Sidebottom, Cloke, Dawes

INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Collingwood: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Robin Nahas replaced by Brad Helbig in the third quarter
Collingwood: Ben Reid replaced by Alan Toovey in the fourth quarter

Reports: Leigh Brown (Coll) for striking Reece Conca (Rich) in the third quarter

Umpires: Rosebury, Chamberlain, Findlay

Official crowd: 58,050 at the MCG

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs