Matthew Boyd says that he expects to come up against a ‘fierce’ Richmond outfit when the two sides meet on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

The Tigers are coming off the back of a 76-point loss at the hands of the Adelaide Crows on the weekend after going into the game with a 5-0 record, and Boyd has told RSN radio that he has no doubt that the Tigers will respond with plenty of fight.

“They went over to Adelaide Oval with high hopes… and I expect the Tigers to be a really fierce outfit on Saturday night, Boyd said.

“They’ve been defending really well and keep sides to relatively low scores, take out the weekend just gone, but it’s going to be a tough game. 

“They’ve raised the bar.”

Going into round five, Richmond boasted the competition’s stingiest defence, holding sides to just 73.4 points per contest.

That number was skewed on the weekend after they gave up 140 points to the high-flying Crows and their average points against figure rose to 86, while the Bulldogs are giving up a fraction less, at 85.5.

Offensively, the sides are almost as close, with just 1.8 points per game separating the two teams.

Expect a tight contest on Saturday night.