WHILE some of Richmond's biggest guns drove the Tigers' thumping 71-point win over Hawthorn, stand-in coach Brendon Lade found another major positive with the club's exciting cubs keeping the pressure on for spots leading into round one.

Jack Riewoldt, Shane Edwards, Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Alex Rance all returned for their first NAB Challenge hit-out with immediate effect at Beaconsfield, as the Tigers romped to a 1.15.5 (104) to 0.4.9 (33) victory over the understrength Hawks.

But the Tigers' spread of talent – particularly in attack – was on full display, with Ben Lennon (three goals), Connor Menadue (two) Daniel Rioli (one) and project key forward Mabior Chol all impressing.

"Rioli showed a little bit up forward again and had a hand in a couple of goals, which is great," Lade said post-match.

"Lennon played as a key forward and kicked three goals, even Chol running into an open goal and missing it – that was great. Just for a bit of excitement, though, with what he can do.

"To have that speed, agility and athleticism that he's got, you don't find that very often. So we know he's a long way away yet, but he did show some very good signs today."

The Tigers had eight goalkickers on Saturday and Lade said the club was looking forward to the cap on interchange rotations being reduced to 90 this season to showcase Richmond's attacking talent.

"I think you're going to have to have that (spread of goalkickers) this year. We talk about the rotations going down, so for a lot of teams the flexibility within your team is going to be crucial," said Lade, a seventh-year assistant coach who has taken charge of both pre-season games so far.

"We've got a lot of guys who can play forward, back and midfield. We were looking forward to the rotations coming down for the last couple of years so we could actually see this in action."

The opening stages of Saturday's game belonged to Riewoldt, with the superstar forward showing he's busting to play football again by giving Kaiden Brand and James Frawley the run around at Holm Park Recreation Reserve.

"It was hard to hold him back last week, he wanted to play then, but he always wants to play, he's just a competitive animal," Lade said.

"So his first quarter probably set us up today and he was pretty good up the ground, definitely."

Riewoldt took six marks – including two big pack grabs – in the opening stanza alone to lead Richmond to a hard-fought five-point lead into the swirly breeze.

The gun forward then slotted the game's only supergoal from inside the centre square in the second term as his side wrested control, booting 14 of the next 17 goals after the first break.