Richmond has emerged victorious in the game of the 2018 season, overcoming a daring Collingwood outfit by 28 points at the MCG in front of a crowd of 88,180.
A record-breaking week for the Tigers after amassing 100,000 members was capped off with their 18th consecutive victory at the MCG, further sweetening the celebrations and solidifying their spot on top of the table.
The Tigers put together an impressive team performance, yet were challenged by the Magpies for the entire match, only pulling away in the final quarter to snatch victory.
Their attrition over four quarters nevertheless ended up being the difference, with Collingwood worn down thanks to a pair of injuries to star defenders Jeremy Howe and Matthew Scharenberg.
Despite some impressive spurts from the Magpies, the Tigers managed to keep the Pies at arm's length in the first term, outscoring their rivals five goals to two in what was a quarter of trademark Richmond dominance.
Jason Castagna got the tense affair underway with his first goal since round 13, before Jack Higgins brought the smalls to the fore to gift the Tigers with the opening two majors of the game.
The Tigers' manic press and zippy ball movement allowed them to rack up plenty of ball in the forward half, with the Magpies unable to quell their opposition's run into the attacking end of the ground.
When the Pies did manage to find the ball up their end, the Richmond defence held up superbly, chopping off entries with their intercept marks and making the Magpies unsure when going forward thanks to their supreme set-up behind the ball.
As Richmond continued to up their pressure, Collingwood were forced to handball far more, and when they did manage to get ball to foot, were exceptionally sloppy, ending the term with a kicking efficiency of 50 per cent.
Collingwood managed to gain the ascendancy however for several minutes, with back-to-back goals through Josh Daicos and Callum Brown taking it up to the reigning premiers.
While Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom were prolific around the clearances and found themselves with combined 24 touches at the first change, both fell victim to the overly skewed kick to handball ratio,
The patch wasn't to last from the Magpies, as the Tigers booted the next three goals through Jack Riewoldt and Jayden Short to silence their prospective opposition, wrestling their way back on top of the clearances and reapplying their frenetic energy back on the contest.
Short's back-to-back majors - in which he was given enough space to unload from outside 50 - was indicative of a lack of awareness from the Magpies and subsequently ballooned the lead out to 18 points.
It only got worse for the Pies, with Darcy Moore's knee collecting star defender Jeremy Howe in a marking contest, ruling him out of the game with concussion, despite him calling off the stretch and jogging off the ground.
With three goals the difference at three-quarter time, Richmond looked to have all the advantage heading into the second quarter.
But the Magpies managed to stifle the unrelenting press of their opposition however, upping their dynamism and cleanliness in the following term to boot five goals against the Tigers' three.
Some brilliance in the air from Josh Thomas gave the Pies the perfect start, before Brody Mihocek too made his presence felt, as the Collingwood youngsters in Daicos and Jaidyn Stephenson combined to feed through their second major the term.
While the Tigers attempted to slam the door shut after Josh Caddy kicked true, the Pies refused to bow out, with Mason Cox slotting his first to make it three goals in the space of eight minutes.
As the Pies tidied up their ball use, Richmond soon found themselves under some duress, with their black and white adversaries closing in on the space they afforded them throughout the first quarter.
But the Tigers managed to break free from their entrapment, and with characteristic speed and unrivalled grit reasserted their authority with a goal to Jack Riewoldt.
As the Magpies continued to scrap their way Cox continued to ease his way into the match, presenting as a tall target up forward and dominating the ruck contests against Shaun Grigg.
The big American finally capitalised on the absence of Toby Nankervis, putting through a crucial goal to once again close the gap and place the pressure back on the home side.
Although trailing on the scoreboard, Collingwood threatened the reigning premiers' hold on the game with scintillating bursts of explosive play, with Stephenson bringing the crowd to their feet with a blistering run along the wing, which ultimately resulted in no score.
It only got better for the Magpies however, with an equally unbelievable passage of play along the boundary from Mihocek the catalyst for Will Hoskin-Elliott's first major of the afternoon - his exploitation of Rance's one-on-one ability bringing the visitors within two points.
As the Magpie army continued to pester their opposition and push ahead in the clearances (6-12) and contested possessions (30-41), the frustration from the Tigers boiled over, with Martin the most agitated thanks to the constant tag from Levi Greenwood.
The Brownlow medallist had the last laugh however, with his strong mark in the goal square putting the Tigers up by eight points at the major change.
Collingwood once again refused to bow out of the contest heading into the third term, edging out the Tigers four goals to three, with Thomas snapping three of the Pies' crucial majors.
Martin picked up where he left off in the first half however, gobbling up the hot footy in the goal square to slot his second goal and take the margin back to double figures.
The initial burst from the Tigers seemed to offset the Pies, as they struggled to piece together fluent pieces of play in the early stages of the term and looked jittery with ball in hand.
Collingwood managed to overcome their shaky start however, with Taylor Adams breaking the lines with a dynamic dash through the middle of the ground, resulting in another goal to Thomas.
With their stoppage dominance continuing to linger and Brodie Grundy giving first supply to the Magpie mids, the black and white swarmed on their opposition, despite an injury to Matthew Scharenberg which saw him sit out the remainder of the game with a knee injury.
Much like the second quarter, the Magpies steadily began to wrestle the momentum back their way - again while Nankervis was off the field - with Hoskin-Elliott capping off their spirited patch with an impressive goal to put the Magpies just four points down.
Yet even more magical was the major from Jack Higgins, who incredibly kept the ball in play on the goal line - despite calls of his efforts being a throw - before coming from behind the post and booting the ball over his head to produce the loudest roar from the crowd.
The small forwards continued to display their threatening tendencies, with Thomas' pair of incredible majors sandwiching Castagna's second for the afternoon; the margin now less than a straight kick.
While the Magpies' persistence was nothing short of admirable, the reigning premiers managed to keep their noses in front, despite one last-gasp attempt from Stephenson which just crept through for a minor score.
With just four points separating the two elite sides at three-quarter time, the stage was well and truly set for an enthralling final quarter.
But with Collingwood down two key defenders, the visitors soon ran out of legs, as their opposition stormed home in typical fashion with five goals.
Eerily similar to their round six encounter, in which the Magpies were limited to just two men on the bench, Richmond put their foot on the gas to close out the game within the space of a few minutes.
Riewoldt once again stamped his authority up forward with the first major of the quarter, before Jacob Townsend and Martin both converted to take the margin to 22 points in just four minutes.
What started as keeping the Magpies at bay soon turned into a matter of piling on pain, as the Tigers dominated almost every facet of the game - save for the clearances which were owned by Pendlebury (13).
As Shane Edwards and Daniel Rioli too added their names to the scoresheet, one final major from Hoskin-Elliott minimised the damage, putting the final margin at 28 points.
Richmond will face Geelong next Friday at the MCG in the hopes of solidifying their spot on top of the table, while Collingwood will have a full week to prepare for their encounter with Sydney at the SCG.
RICHMOND 5.1 8.3 11.6 16.9 (105)
COLLINGWOOD 2.1 7.1 11.2 12.5 (77)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Martin 3, Castagna 2, Short 2, Higgins 2, Caddy, Townsend, Edwards, Rioli
Collingwood: Thomas 4, Hoskin-Elliott 3, Cox 2, Mihocek, Brown, Daicos
BEST
Richmond: Martin, Nankervis, Riewoldt, Prestia, Rance, Grimes
Collingwood: Thomas, Moore, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Mihocek, Grundy
INJURIES
Richmond: Nil
Collingwood: Howe (concussion), Scharenberg (knee)
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