It was supposed to be Dean Cox's big night – his first game since announcing that this season would be his last for West Coast. Instead, the biggest question to come from what was an ugly game was how many weeks Richmond’s Tyrone Vickery would spend on the sidelines for hitting Cox in the face during the second quarter. The incident seemed to have been sparked by Cox throwing an elbow back into Vickery when the pair jostled for position at a boundary throw-in. But Vickery’s response was a round-arm whack to Cox's face that left the Eagles' games-record holder sprawled on the turf, seemingly unconscious. He had to be helped from the ground and took no further part in the game. Vickery was reported and, given he has 43.75 carry-over points from a suspension earlier this year, he can expect another stint on the sidelines.

If Vickery’s attack on their superstar ruckman wasn't a bitter enough pill for West Coast fans to swallow, the fact that their club was not able to wear its regular home strip had the home supporters fuming. If you believe the AFL, West Coast was given the choice of wearing its royal blue away strip or the predominantly white clash strip. If you believe West Coast, they were given no such choice. Either way, it made for better viewing than in the corresponding game last season when West Coast wore its regular home strip and it was almost impossible to work out which team had the ball. But surely the home team shouldn't be forced to change jumpers? Apparently Richmond's clash jumper still clashed with West Coast's home jumper. Not good enough, West Coast supporters wailed.

Last season, Richmond was a little unlucky not to have finished inside the top four. And, given the age of their list, long-suffering Tigers fans had every right to expect their side would again challenge for a top-four position in 2014. That hasn’t happened, but the Richmond which turned out against the Eagles at Patersons Stadium was not the same team which had spluttered its way to 12th on the AFL ladder this season. Richmond’s fourth win in a row will give supporters hope for the future but, more importantly, it would have given real confidence to a team which was too quick, too willing and too hungry. The only question now is whether this is yet another in a long line of false dawns for the Tigers.

It’s difficult to work out what Greater Western Sydney didn't like about Anthony Miles. In his two seasons with the Giants, Miles played 10 games and averaged 16.6 possessions per game. Given the fledgling side didn't win too many games in those seasons, you might have thought that those sort of numbers would be enough to keep your place on the senior list. But, instead, the Giants delisted him. And their loss was Richmond's gain. Before the game against West Coast, he had picked up an average 26 possessions per game in 2014. And he started this match like a house on fire. His seven first-quarter possessions were important, and he followed up with another seven, including a goal, in the second. Miles finished the match with 21 disposals, and the Giants must now be wondering whether they made a huge error.

It doesn’t rain too often in Perth and, when it does, it makes for ugly football. Both sides took their time to cut out the handball and revert to long kicks and hard tackles. But it didn’t take long for the statistics to mount up. When West Coast last played at home, against the Sydney Swans, the two sides set a new record for most tackles in a game involving West Coast. But the 198 tackles laid in that game was easily surpassed by the 222 laid by Richmond and West Coast on Friday night. It was the fourth-highest tackle count of all time. Meanwhile, Matt Priddis looked like setting a new record for most tackles by an individual when he had 14 to three-quarter-time – just five behind Jude Bolton’s all-time record. But he had only four in the final quarter to fall just short.