Richmond sneak past Hawks in spectacular AFL comeback

Richmond have stormed home from 36 points down late in the third quarter to steal a miracle one-point AFL win over Hawthorn after a Liam Baker goal in the dying stages.

The Tigers booted the final six goals of Saturday's game at the MCG, keeping the Hawks goal-less in the fourth term in a vital result for their flickering finals chances.

Richmond led early in the second quarter but didn't hit the front again until a minute remaining when Baker snapped his second goal to the huge roar of the Tigers faithful.

Hawthorn pushed forward from the next centre clearance but Richmond were able to thwart the Hawks' attack to prevail 14.12 (96) to 15.5 (95).

Caretaker Richmond coach Andrew McQualter hailed the Tigers' experienced players, like Dion Prestia, for focusing in on how to win tight games.

Richmond lost numerous close contests at the end of Damien Hardwick's tenure, including last year's elimination final against the Brisbane Lions.

"Last week he got the group together and he took the whole group through scenarios," McQualter said.

"We've spoken about it before late in games, it's about moments and people getting things done in the critical moments.

"The leadership he's shown, amongst some other leaders, we were able to get the result because of it."

After being poor for much of the afternoon, Richmond's stars stepped up as Dustin Martin (two goals, 24 disposals) and Tim Taranto (three goals, 23 disposals) all played crucial roles in the final-quarter charge.

The Tigers were staring down the barrel of finishing the round as low as 14th had they lost, but the comeback means they have jumped back into seventh on the ladder.

Richmond will likely need to win only three of their remaining five matches to be guaranteed of playing finals, with tricky games against the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda and Port Adelaide following next week's clash with Melbourne.

The Hawks shocked the Tigers with a brave and bold style of play, blowing the match open with six straight goals in the second quarter.

In an added blow for Hawthorn after the heartbreaking defeat, they will potentially be without Ned Reeves for next week's match against the Saints after he was reported for a dangerous tackle (rough conduct) on opposing big man Ivan Soldo.

The incident appeared to be even more severe than some of the tackles that have led to players being suspended this year under the AFL's crackdown

Another concern for the Hawks was former No.6 draft pick Denver Grainger-Barras failing to pick up a possession in two-and-a-half quarters before he was tactically substituted out in the third term.

Grainger-Barras spent 11 weeks out of the team but was recalled two weeks ago for the clash with GWS.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was left shattered by the result and found it difficult to pinpoint what went wrong.

"I'm sure there's positives out of that game but I can't find any yet," he said.

"Enormously disappointed to give up a lead, and to play so well for so long, and to not be able to retain it is part of our learning.

"We're all looking in the mirror and wondering what we could have done differently.

"We haven't done a lot of scenario training; two goals up, two goals down ... because being in games has been a challenge for us across the year."