Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said after the 35-point loss at Etihad Stadium that his coaching staff were in a whirl after the Bulldogs' lightning opening.
The Bulldogs brought the ball through the middle. Lindsay Gilbee kicked three early goals. The Bulldogs kicked seven in the first quarter.
It was only at the first break, with the Bulldogs leading 7.2 (44) to 1.2 (8), that the Tigers' brains trust could try to catch up.
"Something was going wrong," Hardwick said. "We just couldn't put our finger on it. They came through the middle - that's something we didn't see from the Bulldogs until today. They really opened us up.
"We scouted them thinking they'd probably play similar to last week, but they completely threw it all around. They probably took us by surprise. It took us too long to react."
The Bulldogs last week lost to Sydney by eight points at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Hardwick suggested that Richmond took less notice of that result than they did about the fact that the Bulldogs had won the same number of quarters for the season as Collingwood.
"While the win-loss column is not saying the right things, they're playing not too bad," he said.
The Bulldogs hardly streeted the Tigers in terms of statistics. They won only 14 more possessions (383-369), six more inside 50s (63-57), and six more clearances (44-38).
Hardwick said the most telling statistic was that the Bulldogs forced eight turnovers in their forward 50 while the Tigers were unable to force any.
"They had eight. We had none. That's the game in a nutshell."
One of the features of the Tigers' performances during their three consecutive wins before this match, over North Melbourne, Brisbane Lions and Fremantle, was the performance of Jake King as a defensive forward.
Against the Bulldogs, King had nine disposals and three tackles. Against Fremantle last week he had 14 disposals and five tackles. It's that slight drop-off that enabled the Bulldogs to kick clear.
Hardwick was heartened by the fact that the Tigers held their ground after the early onslaught. The Bulldogs led by 34 points at quarter-time and increased that margin by only one point, to 35 points, at the final siren.
"We could have capitulated but to our credit we hung tough," he said.
He said mistakes must be expected when four of your back six are teenagers (or not far off). Those four against the Bulldogs were Rance (21), Batchelor (19), Grimes (19) and Conca (18).
He was exasperated that those defenders gave up three goals because they could not lay a hand on the ball on the goal-line. "They're demoralising goals," he said.
But mostly he was encouraging. "They got beaten today. They're a pretty proud group. I've got no doubt they'll bounce back."
Now he needs his coaching staff to bounce back as well.
