TWO POSITIONAL shifts helped kick-start Richmond's 11-goal second half on its way to defeating North Melbourne by 33 points.
With the Roos dominating play across their back half, racking up uncontested marks at will, coach Damien Hardwick and his brains trust slotted in Liam Baker and Shane Edwards across half-forward to help stem the flow.
TIGERS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats
The pair kicked two apiece in the match, with Baker having also been lively on the wing to start the game.
"We changed a few things structurally," Hardwick said.
"What we found early days was we had a young half-forward line. They (North) get back pretty hard, they rotate behind the ball and then when they get the ball they chip it sideways, which starts the chain.
"We put some more experienced guys in there in Edwards and Baker. They've got a better understanding at this point of their careers how to nullify those kicks, so that was a good, positive move for us.
"They were controlling their defence through their offence, so we had to take that away. I think they had 70 (actually 72) marks up until half-time, so we knew if we took that part of their game away from them, we'd certainly bring the game back to what we call a Richmond-type game: high contest, high pressure, which suits us."
The Tigers swung the changes after a disappointing loss to Fremantle, bringing in youngsters Hugo Ralphsmith (17 disposals, one goal), Callum Coleman-Jones (14 and two goals) and debutant Maurice Rioli jnr (one goal), while Thomson Dow (22) was a late inclusion for Kamdyn McIntosh (hamstring).
"We got some really good game time into some of our young players today. We thought Thomson Dow looked electrifying at stages, as did Maurice," Hardwick said.
"Hugo Ralphsmith was very good, 'CJ' was quite imposing at stages, so we saw some great signs from some of those young players, and they'll continue to hopefully get opportunities in the future weeks.
"[Maurice Rioli jnr] brings a unique skill set. His ability to close space and force forward turnovers is really important, the holding the ball, some of those decisions we weren't quite sure and perplexed us a little bit.
"The way he creates turnover allows us to score, which is the way we want to operate, so we were really pleased with the pressure he brought. He's only going to get better as he goes on, he kicked one goal and he probably would have a couple more if he finished better."
North Melbourne led by 20 points at half-time, and coach David Noble was disappointed in the resulting 53-point turnaround.
"[I'm] not happy. We had good measures in place in the first half, had some really good control periods, got the game on our terms, and then way too many shots on goal from the opposition in the second half," Noble said.
"Our defence didn't do as well in the second half as the first half, our pressure around the ball wasn't as strong, so these are some really good learnings to come out of it.
"We talked to the group after the game. It was a great experience for us to play on the ‘G, it's where finals are played. We wanted to take a look at our style and see how it's set up against the ground, as well as a pretty tough opponent, a hardened opponent who plays the ground really well."
