Richmond coach Damien Hardwick concedes a big AFL season might be catching up with key forward Jack Riewoldt.

Melbourne defender James Frawley added to his growing reputation in Sunday's 29-point win over the Tigers with a best-afield effort on Riewoldt.

Frawley kept the league's leading goalkicker to 10 possessions, three marks and 1.2.

It had a massive influence on the game's result, particularly given Richmond are still trying to develop other avenues of attack.

Asked if Riewoldt could be hitting the wall, Hardwick replied: "it would be fair to say.

"He is probably not doing the small things well either - I think there were a couple of ground balls he could have picked up today but he was probably trying to get out of the contest before he has got the contest under control.

"He is probably tired - he has taken the majority of our inside 50 targets for the season - it's not an excuse but he just needs to do the smaller things well on a more consistent basis." Hardwick noted that Richmond won the inside 50s by 11, but had less scoring shots - a sign of how they blew their chances in a game that was in the balance for three quarters.

Richmond kicked the first goal of the final term to level the scores, but Melbourne then broke clear with a four-goal surge.

"I think we will learn as a side out of that game - we made some blunders, didn't use the ball (anywhere) near well enough," Hardwick said.

But it was far from a black day for the Tigers, who have joined the Demons as the league's two emerging sides this season.

They were the two bottom sides last year and have made outstanding progress through the season.

As Richmond keep improving, their veteran midfielder Ben Cousins is playing for his future and did his chances no harm on Sunday with 26 possessions and two goals.

"Once again he was good - he kicked it more today which was positive and used the ball reasonably well," Hardwick said.

Young Tigers ruckman Andrew Browne added some comedy in the second term when the umpire signalled in the wrong direction for a free kick.

Browne took the umpire's lead and shaped to kick in the wrong direction.

"He is a guy who gives everything he has got - he is not overly blessed with ability, but he gives everything he has got and he puts his best foot forward every week," Hardwick said of Browne.

"He was very good and I thought our rucks broke even with (Mark) Jamar, who is close to All-Australian ruckman."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP