Richmond's seven-point win over Fremantle at the MCG on Saturday afternoon has kept them in the hunt for the finals, but for most of the day, the Tigers looked anything but the side that so comprehensively beat second-placed Hawthorn last week.
Last week it was the Tigers methodically picking their way through the Hawks' highly-effective rolling zone, this week they employed a Geelong-style play on at all costs.
Quicksilver Tigers midfielder Matt White said the Tigers had probably overdone the need for speed.
"It was a little scrappy – I think we rushed a little bit today," he told richmondfc.com.au after the match.
"We thought if we got it moving with run-and-carry we could burn them off, but we just kept turning the ball over, and they kept converting that into goals.
"Once we got a bit more control back into our game, we finally got back into it, and it just kept going from there, as everyone saw."
The 21-year-old said Fremantle – who have lost an amazing eight matches by single-figure scores this season – was always going to be a dangerous side to combat.
"Fremantle are playing for pride now, and to their credit, they were playing some pretty good footy, and going from what we did last week – where we had really set structures – we sort-of mixed it up a little bit this weekend.
"Instead of playing that keepings-off sort of game, and working it forward, we tried to run-and-carry it - fast play and we turned it over through the midfield, which they turned into goals.
"We were trying to move it quickly and get it inside 50 because we thought we could beat them in there with some talls, and the smalls running around.
"But it just didn't seem to work."
The Tigers finally settle down after the three-quarter-time break, and booted four consecutive goals to go to a match-high 20-point lead. Fremantle got a couple late, but the Tigers hung tough and grabbed the points.
"It really started us off well – to get goals in that time, in that first five or ten minutes, to put a bit of a lead on – just gives us control of the game a little bit more.
"We didn't have to panic about keeping hold of it and really trying to work it back off them, we could save the game and still go about our business of going inside 50 and kicking goals."
