Richmond VFL coach Tim Clarke was thrilled with his side’s decisive win over Essendon in front of a big home crowd, praising the match-winning performances of a handful of senior Tigers.

The Tigers won the inaugural VFL Dreamtime clash after they booted nine second half goals to the Bombers four, which saw them jump to eighth spot on the ladder.

Click here to download the full stats from Saturday's game. 

“The boys really came to play on Saturday,” Clarke told Roar Vision. “We knew that Essendon was going to be a tough game.”

“The boys played really well, played the style that we wanted to and finished off the second half really well.”

AFL-listed Tigers Ricky Petterd, Aaron Edwards, Brett O’Hanlon and Brad Helbig were all solid contributors but a dominant display from big man, Orren Stephenson earned him the Sir Doug Nicholls Award for best on ground.

Clarke was impressed but not surprised by the standout performances of Stephenson and Anthony Miles, who was again superb with another 35-disposal game.

“We always challenge Orren to give us a big influence in the ruck but also impacting when he goes up forward and he did that on Saturday.”

“He went forward, kicked three goals and [had] plenty of contests. He was terrific in the ruck, giving our boys first use.”

“Milesy continues to fight for a senior spot, he’s working on everything that the senior coaches throw at him that are keeping him out of the side. He continually performs for us.”

The VFL side has a bye this week due to the split round and Clarke is already looking ahead to a big month of football that begins with a clash against the Northern Blues at the ME Bank Centre in a fortnight’s time.

“They get a weekend off where they don’t need to go out and bang their bodies around,” he said, “so it’s going to freshen them up but they’ve got to be fighting fit on the training track.”

“We’ve got two or three really big games over the next four weeks, which will really set up our season.”