Alex Rance took the honours in his much-anticipated battle with Lance Franklin but Sydney won the war at the MCG.
The Swans came from 36 points down in the second quarter to break Richmond's hearts with a stunning 12.8 (80) to 10.11 (71) win on Saturday.
The tantalising match-up between the two superstars delivered as promised after a week of hype, with Rance keeping Franklin to one goal.
The Sydney forward had 16 possessions, took six marks and was involved in several heated scuffles with Rance, who gathered 21 disposals and took five marks.
"I thought Rance was outstanding ... but Buddy certainly had some (good) periods," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.
"It was interesting in that last quarter they moved him up the ground to get him into the game but Rance was having a significant impact at various stages.
"The fact of the matter is you can look at individual achievements or you can look at who won the four points - Sydney walk away happy and we walk away disappointed."
For pure football theatre, the engrossing duel was hard to beat.
The pair went toe-to-toe after Franklin was reported for a high bump on Connor Menadue in the second quarter and they got into a push and shove in the third term as the Swans stormed back.
When Sydney kept coming in the last quarter, Rance stood tall time and again as he repelled repeated Swans forward forays.
"That's the strength of him as a player - his ability to win one-on-ones and control the contest," Hardwick said.
"When the game asked for someone to stand up I thought he did that pretty well."
The loss was Richmond's fourth this season by nine points or less and put them back into the pack of team's jostling for a top-four finish.
"I think that's what our side has to get used to," Hardwick replied when asked if the close losses could become an issue in tight games in the back end of the season.
"We're very competitive, we'll keep games close but we're not going to win games by 10 goals and we're not going to lose games (hopefully) by 10 goals either.
"It's always going to be an arm wrestle.
"You look at the Bulldogs last year and we're probably similar. We're probably under-sized up forward so we compete hard - that's what's going to win us games and that's what's going to keep it close in games as well."
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