At long last, Richmond and coach Damien Hardwick have tasted September success, beating Geelong by 51 points in a long-awaited finals victory so sweet it might have been worth the 16-year wait.

An arm-wrestle at the MCG in front of 95,028 fans became a rout after three-quarter time, with Richmond kicking seven goals in the last term to win 13.13 (91) to 5.10 (40) – and record their first finals win since 2001.

Dustin Martin and Dion Prestia were superb for the Tigers, who march on to a home preliminary final – while consigning the Cats to a semi-final next week.