FREMANTLE's nightmare winless season continues after Richmond produced a comprehensive 38-point win in horrendous, stormy conditions at Domain Stadium.

The Tigers completely outplayed the Dockers from start to finish, handling the 30-40 km/h winds and intermittent rain to win 11.17 (83) to 6.9 (45).

Only 20,184 hardy fans braved the terrible conditions despite a season-high 43,943 tickets being sold for the game.

Full match coverage and stats

To make matters worse for the Dockers promising young defender Alex Pearce was carried off in the last quarter with a broken tibia.

Richmond captain Trent Cotchin was a star in his first game back from a fractured cheekbone. Cotchin, wearing a helmet, collected a game-high 39 disposals, 18 contested and 10 clearances.

"He was great," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.

"He was keen to play last week but the surgeon put a full stop to that pretty quickly. But 18 contested possessions, puts his head in the hole, that’s exactly what we want from our skipper."

Dustin Martin showed his power in close with 14 contested possessions. Anthony Miles and Shane Edwards both kicked two goals to go with 22 possessions apiece. Jack Riewoldt also kicked two important goals.     

"For our guys to step up to the plate and get a result, in a pretty fierce stadium, we're happy," Harwick said.

"Still some work to do though, fair to say."

WATCH: Top-notch Cotch dominates

Lachie Neale fought hard for the Dockers to collect 37 touches, included 18 contested. Youngster Connor Blakely played one of his best games in his short career with 22 disposals and six tackles. Hayden Ballantyne kicked three of the Dockers' six goals including one that defied physics.

Five talking points: Fremantle v Richmond

But the Dockers did not have enough focal points up forward. It was a difficult night to mark the ball but the Tigers took 10 marks inside 50 to four and produced 28 scoring shots to 15 from the same number of inside 50 entries.

"You look at the entries, and they're all about the same," Dockers coach Ross Lyon said.  

"But it's about effectiveness really and composure with the ball.

"It's won and lost in the midfield. I thought they were a lot better than us. It's pretty simple."

There was a significant wind advantage to the city end but the Tigers were better going both into the wind in the first and third terms as well as with the wind in the second and last quarters.

They led at quarter-time by eight points after winning the clearance battle by two in the opening term. The Tigers then locked the ball in their front half in the second term to kick four goals to one to open up a 23-point half-time lead. The Dockers could not get the football out of their defence.

There was some controversy at the start of the second term. Fremantle defender Lee Spurr was penalised for a deliberate rushed behind by umpire Ray Chamberlain. Spurr soccered the ball through his defensive goal from 15m out with Tiger Ben Griffiths giving chase only two metres behind. But Spurr was deemed not to be under sufficient pressure and Griffiths kicked a goal from the goalsquare with the resultant free kick.

"I'm all for it," Hardwick said.

"I think it keeps the game alive as much as it can I think the deliberate out of bounds has been fantastic for the game."

Lyon was not concerned about the decision.

"It's sort of the least of our worries in context," Lyon said.

"I think it's a simple interpretation. The umpire would've interpreted that there wasn't enough pressure on you to do that. Maybe it was right, but in the conditions and all that … but it's neither here nor there really."

The Dockers dominated the third term but kicked just three goals from 11 entries. The Tigers kicked three goals from just five inside 50s into the wind.   

Both Ty Vickery and Zac Dawson had dirty nights that were compounded by respective reports. Vickery was involved in a scuffle with Nick Suban and was reported for striking, although Suban was not hurt at all. Dawson threw out a loose arm to floor Steven Morris well after he had taken a mark coming back with the flight. But the force was low and Morris got up to kick the goal from the resulting 50m penalty.

MEDICAL ROOM
Fremantle: Alex Pearce will miss the rest of the season with a broken right tibia. Lyon said David Mundy had picked up a calf problem and could be in doubt for next week. Clancee Pearce was groggy after a head clash in the last quarter but Lyon said he should be fine. Zac Clarke twisted his left knee in the first quarter and had to come from the ground to be re-strapped. He returned to play out the game.
Richmond: Steven Morris copped a heavy head knock in a head clash with Clancee Pearce late in the last quarter. He had to be helped from the ground and appeared very groggy. Hardwick was not concerned post-match. "He's fine, he's tough," he said.

NEXT UP
The Dockers head to Etihad Stadium to take on St Kilda next Saturday afternoon. The Tigers face Essendon on Saturday night for Dreamtime at the 'G.

FREMANTLE 1.1  2.3   5.7    6.9 (45)
RICHMOND 2.3  6.10  9.10  11.17 (83)

GOALS
Fremantle: Ballantyne 3, Taberner, Langdon, Walters
Richmond: Riewoldt 2, Miles 2, Edwards 2, Grigg, Griffiths, Morris, Lloyd, Menadue

BEST
Fremantle: Neale, D Pearce, Blakely, Ballantyne, Suban, Mundy
Richmond: Cotchin, Martin, Grigg, Deledio, Edwards, B Ellis

INJURIES
Fremantle: A Pearce (broken tibia), D Mundy (calf)
Richmond: Nil

Reports: Fremantle's Zac Dawson for striking Steven Morris in the third term; Richmond's Tyrone Vickery for striking Nick Suban in the third term

Umpires: Chamberlain, Fisher, Donlon

Official crowd: 20,184 at Domain Stadium