Former Richmond captain Trent Cotchin has turned back the clock in his 300th game to inspire the finals-hunting Tigers to a crucial 20-point win over St Kilda.
In the first half alone at the MCG, Cotchin had 19 disposals, eight contested possessions, three clearances, three inside 50s and booted two clutch goals that brought the house down and revived the Tigers after a slow start.
With former coach Damien Hardwick among those in the stands, Cotchin, 33, finished with 29 disposals to help Richmond prevail 13.12 (90) to 11.4 (70) in teeming rain and leave them just two points outside the top eight.
"He played a game of football, didn't he?" interim coach Andrew McQualter said of, and to, Cotchin, who was sitting next to him, before cheekily adding a "what have you been doing all year?"
"Trent was huge. That first quarter, first half in particular, then some huge moments again late.
"It shows you the leader he has been for our football club for such a long period of time. He stood up again."
Boom recruit Tim Taranto (38 disposals, 10 tackles, six clearances and a goal) continued his stellar form while Dustin Martin (34 touches, seven clearances) and defenders Nick Vlastuin and Jayden Short were excellent.
St Kilda's Brad Crouch (33 touches) and Brad Hill (31) fought hard while former Tiger Dan Butler (three goals) provided a spark as the Saints spurned a chance to draw level with the top four on points.
Initially the Saints appeared poised to spoil the party, booting the first four goals.
Just before quarter time, with Richmond trailing by 15, Cotchin marked just inside 50, then drove through a wonderful goal that sent the crowd of 62,686 fans into raptures.
Every Tiger ran to Cotchin - and it started a run of five consecutive majors.
"That was very much on my limit with regards to the distance so I did think it would fall 10 metres short, but gave it everything I had," Cotchin told reporters.
"But they're the moments that are really special. The way that I've been supported, not just this week, throughout my career, from particularly my teammates has been really special.
"And that's the stuff that I'll cherish when it's all said and done - whenever that'll be."
Cotchin snapped the first goal of the second term and the Tigers got as far as 25 points in front in the third quarter.
But Saints smalls Butler, Jack Higgins and Ryan Byrnes cut the deficit to seven points at the final change.
The final quarter proved an arm wrestle until Taranto and Shai Bolton iced the game.
"We wanted to take the emotion out, silence the crowd and we did that really well, I thought - we had four on the board early," coach Ross Lyon said.
"So we were really clear on a couple of things Richmond did, particularly through their midfield about how they position and come out of stoppage. Even off turnover, their positioning.
"We weren't at the level of applying the method we wanted with that and that hurt us."
Young Richmond tall Samson Ryan (ankle) was substituted out at half-time.
