Richmond’s first victory since the AFL restart looks to have come at a cost after potentially serious injuries to premiership players Dion Prestia and Toby Nankervis.
In the last game in Victoria for at least a month, the Tigers held off a fast-finishing Melbourne to win by 27 points at the MCG on Sunday.
The reigning premiers capitalised on an error-ridden and wasteful Demons side to prevail 12.7 (79) to 8.4 (52).
But star midfielder Prestia and ruckman Nankervis both went down with ankle problems in the second-half and failed to finish the match.
Captain Trent Cotchin also hinted he may have a “tiny” hamstring strain.
The Tigers started to look more like themselves in this round-five clash, adding a second victory to their sole previous triumph this season, which came when they defeated Carlton back in March.
Damien Hardwick’s side seemed to be cruising before Melbourne took advantage of the wounded Tigers in the last quarter to go on a mini-charge before Richmond steadied again.
As they have done in winning two of the last three flags, Richmond shared the scoreboard load with eight individual goal-kickers, but Kane Lambert was electric with three goals and 26 possessions.
Melbourne comfortably had more inside-50s, but terrible ball-use early in the match ensure they managed just three first-half goals to trail by 25 points at the main break.
After Tom Lynch slotted the first goal of the game, Steven May did a decent job on the Tigers spearhead in a battle of the former Gold Coast co-captains.
Lynch (three goals) played out the game, but wore a glove on his right hand in another potential concern for the Tigers as they get ready to enter hub life in Queensland.
Richmond are already preparing to hit the road without experienced pair Bachar Houli and Shane Edwards as they look set to opt out of the trip for family reasons.
Melbourne midfielder Christian Petracca was outstanding, particularly in the first half, but only captain Max Gawn and defender Michael Hibberd gave him enough genuine support.
Mitch Hannan (three goals), Jake Melksham and Bayley Fritsch (two) were the Demons targets up forward, but Melbourne wasted too many inside-50 entries to be a chance of pinching their second win of the season.