ON A WEEKEND of signalling intent and making statements, flag fancy the Western Bulldogs wanted to join the party - and taking on a young and modest Richmond team seemed an ideal way to flex muscle for the first time in 2010.

And while the Dogs did do exactly that, the 72-point drubbing of Richmond at the MCG on Sunday was not a quick and merciless kill, as the Saints did to North Melbourne the night before; the Dogs’ win was more like death by water torture.

Like the St Kilda game, this battle was over early but the Dogs’ performance was nothing to drool over and rarely had fans on the edge of their seats.

Barry Hall was subdued, Adam Cooney impressed in moments, Shaun Higgins flashed in and out and Lindsay Gilbee found plenty of the ball without exactly dominating.

From the opening minutes, possibly before the opening minutes, fans knew what they were in for.

Livewire Higgins squeezed a goal from tight on the boundary after Richmond had timidly chipped it around its backline.

Liam Picken gave the Dogs their second two minutes later and Ryan Griffen should have had the Dogs' third but shanked the kick.

The Dogs were away and the game was going to script but every time they collectively took their feet off the accelerator, it seemed the enthusiastic Tigers pushed forward.

Mitch Morton kicked Richmond’s first nine minutes into the first term and the young Tigers were showing what could best be called ‘youthful enthusiasm’, highlighted by Ben Nason’s endeavour when tackling Jason Akermanis.

But enthusiasm was really all Richmond showed and while spirit was there to see early, the final quarter for the young Tigers was woeful.

With the result a fait accompli very early on, the Dogs simply did enough. They answered every Richmond goal with three or four and gradually increased their lead with each term, sucking the spirit out of the young Tigers.

Richmond                 2.0    4.5    6.6        7.6 (48)
Western Bulldogs    6.2    9.6    14.11    17.18 (120)

GOALS
Richmond: Morton 3, Martin, Nahas, Post, Vickery
Western Bulldogs: Hahn 3, Hill 3, Cooney 2, Cross, Giansiracusa, Griffen, Everitt, Hall, Higgins, Lake, Moles, Picken

BEST
Richmond: Thursfield, Newman, Cotchin, Morton
Western Bulldogs: Gilbee, Cross, Cooney, Akermanis, Higgins, Griffen, Hahn, Boyd

INJURIES
Richmond: -
Western Bulldogs: Johnson (calf) replaced in selected side by Hill

Reports: -

Umpires: McLaren, Findlay, Pannell

Official crowd: 27,358 at MCG