Richmond might finally have the midfield depth it has taken the AFL club four years to rebuild.
While much of the focus was on Dustin Martin and his free agency after Thursday night, the 43-point win over Carlton also was a a big tick for their recruiting.
The arrival of Dion Prestia (Gold Coast) and Josh Caddy (Geelong) meant the Tigers could play Martin and captain Trent Cotchin more in attack, a tactic they exploited to great effect.
Coach Damien Hardwick has said for a couple of years that Richmond need more midfield support around Cotchin and the early signs this season is that is finally happening.
Hardwick noted on Sunday that there has been a void since the retirements of Shane Tuck in 2013 and Daniel Jackson a year later.
He also said that by playing Martin and Cotchin closer to goal more regularly, it has the knock-on effect of easing the pressure on their star key forward Jack Riewoldt.
"We probably haven't been afforded that luxury, ever since the loss of Tuck and Jackson, believe it or not," Hardwick said.
"All of a sudden you bring in those two quality players (Prestia and Caddy), it allows Dusty and Trent to play a bit more time forward.
"It increases our potency and takes the reliance off Jack a little bit.
"He (Riewoldt) played a really important, vital part for our game ... to say we kicked 20 goals and Jack only kicked one, you wouldn't have seen that for a while - or ever."
Hardwick is resigned to playing the long game on Martin's future, with the onballer and Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe at the top of the list of free agents this season.
The Tigers have put a big offer to Martin and Hardwick's philosophy is "when we know, you'll know."
"It's the modern age we're in, it's part and parcel - if it's not Dustin, it will be Fyfe or Dangerfield (two years ago)," he said.
"All we know is Dustin is a really important player for us - we've been great for him, he's been great for us.
"If we keep getting the results we did (on Thursday), we're happy."
Meanwhile, Hardwick said they are blessed with a low injury count and plenty of players in good form who are pressing for AFL recalls.
The Tigers will play Collingwood next Thursday night, only a few weeks after narrowly losing to them in Moe at the end of the pre-season.
"Probably early, our ball use hurt us a little bit - we gave away a couple of turnovers, but then we started to get a bit more flow in our offence," Hardwick said.
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