Richmond has taken another step in achieving its dream of winning back-to-back premierships, overcoming Hawthorn by 31 points at the MCG to advance to the preliminary final.
Wet and slippery conditions in the opening half resulted in the initial low-scoring affair, yet the Tigers tore away in the third term with five goals to blow their opposition out the water in what was the first finals clash between the two historic clubs.
Milestone man Dustin Martin was best afield for the Tigers, finishing with 29 disposals (17 contested), 10 clearances and a miraculous major to boot, while Daniel Rioli and Kamdyn McIntosh were influential on the scoreboard with three majors.
Tom Mitchell (38 disposals), Liam Shiels (26) and Jaeger O'Meara served as Hawthorn's primary chargers, yet were unable to seriously challenge the reigning premiers in the second half.
While the Tigers were nowhere near their most damaging, they still generated 30 more inside 50s than their opposition (67-37), with Hawthorn appearing well off the pace - an issue further exacerbated by the loss of Ben Stratton late in the third quarter with a hamstring injury.
It was a scrappy opening to the game given the slippery conditions and heavy onset of rain prior to play, with both sides scrounging forward to secure two goals apiece in their maiden finals encounter.
With the dewy conditions making clean hands on ball exceptionally difficult and the territory battle of utmost importance, both sides were determined to hack the ball forward by any means possible, with kicks off the ground the most effective.
Martin was the main instigator in the wet, gaining 222m by foot in the opening term alone and finishing the term with eight touches, despite the continual presence of Daniel Howe.
Richmond at last drew first blood at the five-minute mark of the term, with McIntosh taking a clean mark in the wet, before Rioli followed up with a superb crumb to put the Hawks' defence on notice.
The unclean ball use - which saw the Tigers and Hawks respectively operate at 58 and 64 per cent efficiency - made scoring hard to come by, with every opportunity crucial.
A certain Shaun Burgoyne major was blown after his set shot kick from the goal square shied away to the right, before Richmond battened down the hatches.
After prolific efforts from Mitchell and O'Meara (11 disposals apiece), Hawthorn at last managed to convert a major score following an ill-disciplined 50m penalty against Trent Cotchin, allowing Shiels (seven disposals, four tackles) to slice the margin back to single figures.
With Jarryd Roughead immediately following up with a goal, again the product of a free kick, the Hawks ended the term just one point shy of the reigning premiers.
The greasy conditions continued to hamper the cleanliness and scoring of both sides, yet Richmond managed to gain the upper hand in the second term, wrestling the momentum in their favour with three goals to one.
Right from the get-go, the Tigers' unrelenting pressure stood marked, with the home side garnering five inside 50s in as many minutes to put the Hawks under the pump.
The repeat entries and intensity paid dividends, with an incredible Rioli dribbler in the wet putting the Tigers back in the driver's seat.
While the remarkable major was a typical Rioli masterpiece, the goal was undoubtedly the result of Richmond's midfield pressure and superiority in the contested ball, which Trent Cotchin, McIntosh and Martin helped drive.
With the Hawks failing to register an inside 50 for the first eight minutes of the term - thanks primarily to the elite half-back efforts of Dylan Grimes and Nick Vlastuin - it would take a special Paul Puopolo manoeuvre to break through, with Conor Nash putting the Hawks two points up.
As the pressure jumped up another level and O'Meara particularly damaging all over the groud, play reached a deadlock for several minutes, with neither side able to generate clean ball movement inside 50.
Martin bucked the trend late in the term, with his unbelievable goal on the run from the boundary going alongside his 18 touches and seven clearances.
As several Tigers got under Howe's skin following Martin's miraculous major, Richmond found reason to further agitate Hawthorn after Luke Breust became the second Hawk to miss a goal from directly in front.
Some more Martin brilliance left the Hawks bitter moments later, with a classy undergounrd handball paving the way for McIntosh's second major, taking the lead to 14 points at half-time.
With the ground drying up at the beginning of the third term, Richmond's forward line was flooded by countless goal opportunities, booting five goals from 11 scoring shots.
The Tigers found themselves completely in control all over the ground, with fluent play seeping into their game as they left the Hawks in their wake.
Most incredible was the sheer frequency of forward entries generated, with the reigning premiers recording 19 of the last 20 inside 50s - most of which came towards the back end of the term.
The few times Hawthorn found themselves with the ball in its attacking zone, the Hawks butchered their chances, dropping marks, fumbling the footy and looking exceptionally jittery as the Tigers began to close in.
Richmond meanwhile had no such problems converting, with McIntosh, Dion Prestia and Rioli ballooning the margin out to three goals.
Jarman Impey and Roughead minimised the damage, yet ended up being the only goalscorers for the Hawks, with the two majors kicked 13 minutes apart.
The dynamic play from the Tigers continued to stand marked, with Josh Caddy's soccer off the ground - although reversed upon review - undoubtedly emphasising their unrelenting press towards goal, any desperation to secure major scores.
Richmond's soccer skills at found their way onto the scoreboard, with Jack Higgins gifting Shane Edwards a major thanks to a deft touch by foot, before the fan-favourite forward added his name to the scoresheet to take the margin to 35 points.
With the Hawthorn defence under siege, the situation only got worse after Ben Stratton was sidelined with a suspected hamstring injury, putting a massive dent in their September aspirations.
\ Richmond too weren't without their scares, with Alex Rance going down on the cusp of three-quarter time with an ankle complaint, yet returned in the fourth term unfazed.
While the Tigers marched on throughout the final term, Hawthorn managed to peg back the three goals to narrow the margin, yet were nowhere near the class of their opposition.
Despite Mitchell securing his first major of the evening with his 30th disposal, Josh Caddy replied just moments later, with Higgins' again assisting thanks to a blistering handball intercept.
As the two sides exchanged goals through Breust, Caddy, Smith and Prestia, the air went out of the highly anticipated contest as the Tigers comfortably controlled the rest of the match.
With the game slowed right down followng Jack Graham's major and the Richmond big guns shelved in the latter stages of the term, one last-gasp major to Roughead brought the final margin to 31 points.
Richmond will have time to freshen up before its preliminary final at the MCG in a fortnight, while Hawthorn will face either Melbourne or Geelong in a desperate bid to remain in the finals race.
RICHMOND 2.2 5.7 10.13 13.17 (95)
HAWTHORN 2.4 3.5 5.8 9.10 (64)
GOALS
Richmond: Rioli 3, McIntosh 3, Caddy 2, Higgins, Prestia, Martin, Edwards, Graham
Hawthorn: Roughead 3, Mitchell, Breust, Impey, Smith, Nash, Shiels
BEST
Richmond: Martin, Grimes, McIntosh, Rioli, Cotchin, Nankervis, Higgins
Hawthorn: Shiels, Mitchell, O'Meara, Roughead, Henderson, Smith
INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Hawthorn: Schoenmakers (Achilles soreness) replaced in the selected side by Howe, Stratton (hamstring)
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