Vickery put himself in hot water with both the umpires and the Eagles fans following the nasty incident in the second quarter.

Vickery served a two-match ban earlier this year for striking North Melbourne's Michael Firrito in round 12. He has 43.75 carryover points from that suspension. 

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick did not speak about the incident post-match, but he gave strong support to Vickery as a player.

"I love the way Ty's been going about his footy," Hardwick said. 

"He has been incredible for us over the past four or five weeks. His attack on the ball's been outstanding. 

"Look, we'll have a look at that during the week so other people will take care of that. He's a good player for us."

Eagles coach Adam Simpson was clearly seething about the incident, but refused to comment post-match.

Both sides conceded needless free kicks after the incident. Mark LeCras bumped Vickery to give away a 50m penalty, and had his jumper ripped to shreds by Vickery's teammates. 

The moment seemed to galvanise Richmond, as the margin was just four points at the time of the incident. 

Dustin Martin kicked a goal after the half-time siren, just as Vickery had done at quarter-time, to extend the margin to 11 points, a significant advantage given the atrocious conditions. 

Trent Cotchin conjured a miraculous soccer goal from a tight angle straight after the break to extend the margin to a game-high 17 points, and the Eagles could not claw their way back. 

Vickery, who kicked two goals but was quieter after the second-term report, received plenty of attention from the Eagles' fans for the remainder of the match.

The Tigers midfield was outstanding in the heavy conditions. They gathered 27 more contested possessions, with 10 Tigers hitting double figures for contested disposals. 

Brett Deledio, Brandon Ellis, Nathan Foley, Anthony Miles and Martin led the way. Martin kicked two crucial goals in the second and third terms, decisive moments in such a low-scoring contest.

Richmond's win broke a five-game run of the teams alternating wins and losses in their head to head meetings, and improved its record against the Eagles at Patersons Stadium to 4-13. 

The Eagles' endeavour was never in question, but their execution let them down in their third consecutive loss at Patersons Stadium. Their final score of 6.6 (42) was their second-lowest at home in their history, while they have lost 15 of their last 21 games at the venue.

"We weren't good enough in the end," Simpson said. 

"We had too many passengers. 

"We had a go, but in the end I just thought the contest, the ground ball gets, which is a combination of loose ball and hard ball gets, we got beaten pretty convincingly."

Matt Priddis was phenomenal for the Eagles. He gathered 30 touches, 19 contested, and had 18 tackles, the second-most tackles in any AFL game since the stat was first recorded. Jude Bolton laid 19 tackles for the Sydney Swans against West Coast in 2011. 

Luke Shuey was also brave. He was carried from the ground with what appeared to be a serious left ankle injury, but returned in the last quarter with an obvious limp to fight out the game for his side. 

The loss ends West Coast's faint hopes of finals, while the Tigers will be pondering what might have been had they found this form earlier in the season.    

BEST 

West Coast: Priddis, Shuey, Mackenzie, Naitanui, Hurn, Hutchings

Richmond: Martin, Deledio, Foley, Miles, Ellis, Conca

INJURIES 

West Coast: Cox (concussion), Shuey (left ankle)

Richmond: Nil

 

Reports: Ty Vickery (Richmond) reported for striking Dean Cox (West Coast) in the second quarter.

 

Umpires: Margetts, Dalgleish, Rosebury

 

Official crowd: 32,270 at Patersons Stadium