Richmond Tigers beat Western Bulldogs in 2013 AFL Round 3

Expectations are soaring at Richmond and so is the difficulty of their challenges.

The 67-point AFL win over the Western Bulldogs on Sunday at Etihad Stadium has given the Tigers a 3-0 start – their best opening since 1995.

They dominated the Bulldogs from the start and won 20.15 (135) to 10.8 (68).

Richmond fans are painfully aware that 1995 is one of only two finals appearances for their team since losing the 1982 grand final.

But their great start has come at the expense of teams who finished outside the top eight last season.

Saturday’s MCG blockbuster against Collingwood starts a much sterner three-game test, with Fremantle in Perth and Geelong to follow.

They all made the finals last year and are top-four contenders again.

“The fact that there might be 90,000 people there on a Saturday afternoon, which not many people get to play in front of, we’re very excited to take on the challenge,” coach Damien Hardwick said of the Collingwood clash.

“We certainly take it head-on.

“We spoke about it – the best place to be is (where) expectations are high.

“That’s when you get your best results.”

Hardwick described Sunday’s win as “pretty solid” and said the performance was a step up from the previous two games.

Captain Trent Cotchin beat in-form tagger Nick Lower to be best afield and key forward Jack Riewoldt kicked five goals after giving away four free kicks in the first half.

Midfielders Dustin Martin, Daniel Jackson and Brett Deledio, who kicked a goal only 15 seconds into the match, were also outstanding.

Shaun Grigg restricted prolific clearance winner Tom Liberatore to just 10 disposals.

The ‘Dogs, like the Tigers, have a big challenge coming out of this match.

They are a rebuilding side and must make sure they regroup quickly ahead of next Sunday’s away game against Adelaide.

Coach Brendan McCartney knows if they are not careful, a bad loss like this could spark a run of poor performances.

“They outplayed us in all areas of the game,” McCartney said.

“Without being too doomsday, we have seven days to reboot and go to Adelaide and give a much better account of ourselves.”

Adding to the Bulldogs’ woes, Easton Wood (hamstring) and Tory Dickson (ankle) were injured.

They could also face an AFL fine after Tom Campbell came from outside the listed emergency players to replace Ayce Cordy (back).

McCartney put the error down to a “misunderstanding”.

But they could regain captain Matthew Boyd from a calf injury for the Crows match.

Liam Jones impressed for the ‘Dogs with four goals and defenders Tom Young and Dale Morris worked hard under constant pressure.

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