Despite really difficult conditions, the Tasmania Devils were clean and produced a strong four-quarter performance, beating Richmond by 63 points at UTAS Stadium on Saturday.

The rain started to tumble as the game began and it was Devils spearhead Hugh Dixon who gave his side a fantastic start, kicking the opening goal of the contest only minutes in. He started the game red hot, showing off his strong hands despite very challenging marking conditions for players.

But luckily for the Tigers, he didn’t kick accurately as he missed three very gettable shots on goal, before Josh Pollocks got Richmond on the board, kicking an important goal against the grain.

The closeness on the scoreboard was helped by Tasmania’s 1.7 in front of goal, before it broke the run of behinds, with a late goal giving the Devils a two-goal advantage at quarter-time.

Geordie Payne pushed the Devils' lead out to three goals at the start of the second term, and soon the margin was beyond 30 points, with the Tigers desperately needing to find their rhythm.

The ball virtually lived in Tasmania’s forward half and even when Richmond had opportunities to score, it was unable to, as the Devils took a commanding 42-point lead into the main break.

In the first 15 minutes of the third term the Tigers defended strongly and stemmed the flow, but they were unable to find an elusive second goal of the day, until the returning Zane Peucker rolled through a cracker from the middle of the wing.

Richmond kicked another through Liam George and began to play a better brand of footy, winning the third term and cutting the margin to 37 points. 

But it was the home side who finished the game off strongly, kicking four goals to zero in the last quarter, leading from start to finish to win by 63 points.

In a positive for the Tigers, Taj Hotton and Peucker both made successful returns from injury and showed good glimpses throughout the game. 

Richmond will look to bounce back next Sunday against North Melbourne at ETU Stadium.

Richmond   1.1   1.1   3.3   3.4 (22)

Tasmania   2.7   6.13   7.16   11.19 (85)

Goalkickers: Pollocks, Peucker, George