Richmond has defied injury and the GWS Giants to win by 18 points in the Wildcard Final on Saturday afternoon at ETU Stadium.

With the win, the Tigers have punched their ticket to next weekend's Elimination Final.

The game was an arm wrestle in the first half before a seven-goal third term gave Richmond enough breathing room to hold on and advance.

It was a frantic start to the game with both teams keeping the ball in motion and playing attacking footy.

But it was the Tigers who made more of their opportunities with electric goals to Massimo Raso, Steely Green and Sam Toner, giving the Richmond faithful something to cheer about early on.

Towards the backend of the first quarter, the lead was already out to 25 points, before the Giants kicked a much-needed goal through Hugo Birks.

Taine Moraschi followed that with another goal to GWS, cutting the lead back to 15 points at the first change.

Richmond started the second quarter well with a classy snap from the pocket by key forward Jacob Koschitzke, but that is where the momentum stopped for the Tigers.

Two quick goals from crafty small forward Phoenix Gothard brought the lead back to just nine points, sparking a period of clearance domination for the Giants.

For a large part of the quarter, Richmond was made to defend and held up reasonably well under pressure, but some turnovers in the back half proved costly.

At half time, the Tigers' lead had been cut down to only two points, with the main break coming at a good time for Richmond, desperately needing to hit the reset button.

Young key forward Liam Fawcett got the Tigers off to a brilliant start after the main break, kicking back-to-back goals to again give Richmond the advantage.

But the Giants would refuse to lay down, with goals to James Lugsdin and Perry Lewis-Smith keeping scores very close.

The Tigers withstood that challenge and replied straight away, with Koschitzke kicking two goals in rapid time, helping to push the margin out to three goals.

The latter of those goals was brought about by relentless pressure from small forward Mohammed Yassine, who was then rewarded as he ran into an open goal moments later.

Then an off-the-ball free kick resulted in Green kicking his second goal deep into time on, as the Tigers turned the tide to lead by 28 points at three-quarter time.

They would need every part of that buffer, with Richmond’s VFL captain Lachlan Street (ankle), Nick Guiney (shoulder) and Campbell Gray all ruled out of the game with injury.

The Giants put some doubt into the Tigers' minds with an early goal in the last quarter, cutting the lead to under four goals.

But despite injuries and plenty of moving parts, Richmond held strong as Nicholas Girolami kicked back-to-back goals, Yassine kicked his third, and Joel Garner got on the board to blow the lead beyond 40 points.

GWS kicked a few late goals to give the side some hope against a tiring Tigers outfit, but Richmond ultimately did enough early in the quarter to hang on and win by 18 points.

Koschitzke continued his purple patch of form (four goals), looking a real presence in the forward half before moving down back later in the game.

After struggling to win clearances in the first half, young gun Harry Scott (26 disposals and five clearances) and the midfield group lifted to give their forwards the first opportunity to score.

Phoenix Gothard was brilliant for GWS, finishing the game with four goals to go along with 19 disposals, as was Josh Fahey (34 disposals), as he gave his side plenty of drive off half back.

Richmond   4.4   5.7   12.12   17.14 (116)
GWS   2.1   5.5   8.8   14.14 (98)

Goals: Koschitzke 4, Yassine 3, Fawcett 3, Green 2, Girolami 2, Toner, Raso, Garner