RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick is happy to head back to Melbourne with one win from three straight interstate matches, after the Tigers finished 31-point winners against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.

It has been an eventful road trip for the Tigers, who were forced to take a bus back home from Sydney earlier this week after a volcanic ash cloud stopped flights in and out of Melbourne.

Hardwick said the extra travel didn’t affect the team but added he was grateful to play the next three games, against Melbourne, Carlton and Essendon, at the MCG.

"It finished our block of four (the Tigers also had a bye) and we had two from four (including the bye) so it puts us back in the hunt," Hardwick said.

"It was a tough game, the Lions were committed and I thought they were outstanding, there were a lot of very heavy body clashes."

The Tigers had their midfield to thank for the win, with Dustin Martin finishing with 22 touches and five goals and Trent Cotchin recording 30 touches.

However, emerging players at both ends of the field, in Tyrone Vickery and Alex Rance, also set up the victory.

Vickery booted four goals while Rance held Lions forward Jonathan Brown to two goals.

"(Martin) is just one of those players that uses the ball so well, he is a match-winner," Hardwick said.

"He still has areas of his game that he needs to improve but he was outstanding and Trent Cotchin was the same.

"The emergence of Tyrone Vickery is very important to our footy club, he is 200cm and guys like that are very hard to play on."

The Tigers led the competition in set shot accuracy coming into the game (with 72 per cent), but they missed 10 set shots against the Lions.

"Normally the strength of our game is our accuracy but it seemed to desert us tonight," Hardwick said.

"If we don’t take our opportunities, it could haunt us."