In typical Richmond fashion, it was anything but straightforward. The Tigers raced to a 33-point lead in the first term before giving up the lead in the third quarter.

 

In an incredibly tense final term, the visitors withstood everything the Swans could throw at them to guarantee a famous victory.

Adam Goodes had a number of chances to be a hero in the final term, dropping three marking attempts in the Swans' forward 50m deep before being caught holding the ball with two minutes left.

 

Instead, it was Dustin Martin who took advantage of Ted Richards losing his feet, scampering away into an empty forward line and slotting the goal as the Tigers held on for a nail-biting triumph.

 

Martin, Ivan Maric, Brett Deledio, Shane Edwards and Trent Cotchin were all immense for the visitors, with Jack Riewoldt kicking four goals and Deledio adding three.

 

Tom Mitchell (30 touches, 12 tackles) and Dan Hannebery (33 touches) led the way for the Swans, who lost Lance Franklin (knee) before the game, with Sam Reid their only multiple goalkicker with two.

 

The result means another finals berth is secure for Richmond, while despite the narrow loss, the Swans still finish top of the ladder, ahead of Hawthorn on percentage.

 

Richmond bolted out of the blocks, slamming through 5.3 to no score to make its intentions clear from the opening bounce.

 

Riewoldt was finishing off all the good work, kicking three goals in the opening 16 minutes.

 

It forced Swans coach John Longmire to shuffle the deck to find some answers, quickly shifting Dane Rampe onto Riewoldt and moving Sam Reid into the backline, moves which had the desired effect.

 

Almost through sheer will rather than pretty football, the Swans started banging the ball long and giving Kurt Tippett a chance in his duel with Alex Rance.

 

Jarrad McVeigh and Tippett kicked two late goals as the home side took a manageable 20-point deficit into quarter-time.

 

Nathan Gordon then kicked the first goal of the second quarter as the Tigers stretched their advantage to 27 points, but that finally sparked the home side into action.

 

Lifting their work-rate, the Swans kicked the final two goals of a low-scoring term to drag themselves within 13 points at the main break.

 

It was always set up for a grandstand finish, the Swans getting in front to put fear into the Richmond fans, but they found just enough to give themselves some rare finals football once more.

 

Sydney Swans: Hannebery, Jack, Parker, Rampe, Mitchell, Malceski

Richmond: Deledio, Maric, Martin, Cotchin, Edwards, Rance, Ellis

 

Sydney Swans: Franklin (knee) replaced in selected side by Jones.

Richmond: TBC

Sydney Swans: Zak Jones replaced Sam Naismith in the third quarter

Richmond: Reece Conca replaced Ricky Petterd in the third quarter

 

Reports: Nil

 

Umpires: Rosebury, Stevic, Pannell

 

Official crowd: 31,227 at ANZ Stadium