The Lions led by 23 points after an explosive start before the Tigers awoke form their slumber, arresting some poor goal kicking to post a much-needed 18.17 (125) to 14.10 (94) victory.
Young midfielder Dustin Martin booted five goals and had 22 disposals in another brilliant performance with Tyrone Vickery chipping in with four goals of his own.
Trent Cotchin was equally influential with his 30 possessions as Richmond was able to keep Lions skipper Jonathan Brown to just four scoring shots and only two goals.
Brown's second major put Brisbane within four points halfway through the final term but the Tigers responded emphatically with the next five majors to ice the contest.
Lively Tigers forward Jack Riewoldt was kept to two majors by Matt Maguire.
Brisbane kicked the first four goals of the game and, while the Tigers rallied to lead at half-time, they could not shrug off the Lions until deep into the last term.
Twice Richmond was on the verge of amassing a match-winning lead only to see the Lions fight back and threaten to steal the game.
Determined Brisbane midfielders Jack Redden, Simon Black and Tom Rockliff kept their side within striking distance, although Richmond's forwards were not helping their own cause.
By three-quarter time, 10 of Richmond's 13 behinds had been scored from set shots, most of them very gettable, well inside 50m.
Redden was also enforcer, applying some big hits while also getting physical with with several Tigers including Daniel Jackson and Shane Edwards.
The aggressive tone was set before the opening bounce, when both midfield brigades started wrestling in an entertaining sideshow to the main act.
The turning point in the last quarter occurred when Chris Newman brought Lions skipper Brown to his knees with a heavy tackle inside 50m and then, moments later, when Black was streaming through the middle, Robert Nahas stopped him in his tracks.
From that point onwards, the Tigers rattled off five of the last seven majors to seal the match.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick praised Martin for his five-goal return and the game-turning tackles of Nahas and Newman.
"It's amazing when the simple things are done well, you get the result you want," he said.
"It puts us back in the hunt (for the top eight).
"He (Martin) uses the ball well and I couldn't believe it when I saw he kicked five goals."
Lions coach Michael Voss said they had their chances to win and, in the end, could not counter-attack when it mattered most, like they had done on two previous occasions during the game.
"We certainly had our ascendancy in different parts of the game," he said.
"You have to make the most of them because you do have momentum in games.
"What we weren't able to do, we couldn't hold that wall and counter attack likewise."
He said key forward Mitchell Clark would miss at least one match after spraining an ankle, while nimble forward Todd Banfield suffered a hamstring injury.
"It's not a break, but it will certainly keep him (Clark) out for next week," he said.
The match was also a stop-start affair with 54 free kicks being awarded, 32 by half-time, which would normally be around the end-of-game statistic.
-ABC/AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, qld, brisbane-4000, vic, richmond-3121 First posted June 18, 2011 22:09:00
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