Richmond star forward Matthew Richardson mixed brilliance with frustrating errors as the Tigers survived a mistake-riddled AFL encounter to defeat Carlton by eight points at the MCG.

The hard-fought 12.20 (92) to 11.18 (84) win put the Tigers season back on track, making it consecutive victories after they beat Brisbane at the Gabba last weekend, following three straight losses to start the season.

But they made themselves and their supporters sweat for the victory, mixing hard work to win the ball and set up chances with plenty of misses from simple set shots and numerous other skill errors.

Richmond started sluggishly, with the Blues controlling the first term to lead 5.4 to 2.3 at quarter-time.

From then on, the Tigers took control in general play, but never looked to have the game in their keeping as their constant errors kept the Blues in touch.

Richardson was the best player on the field, with 12 strong marks and 24 possessions.

But, in a symbol of the game generally, his was a flawed performance, with his superb marking, strong tackling and hard running partly offset by at times woeful kicking, finishing with 3.5 for the match.

While that meant the Blues had plenty of chances to snatch the match, Carlton also sabotaged its opportunities with plenty of bad skill errors.

There were numerous missed targets around the ground and key forward Brendan Fevola was as wasteful as Richardson in front of goal, kicking 2.4.

Fellow key forward Jarrad Waite, who kicked three goals and was among his side's best, also had some bad moments, spilling two marks close to goal in the third quarter.

His second fumbled effort, in the goalsquare, proved doubly costly, as he not only missed out on a golden scoring chance, but the Tigers then took the ball the length of the ground for a goal.

The Tigers were generally well-served by their little men, with midfielders Greg Tivendale, Brett Deledio, Mark Coughlan and Shane Tuck on top for most of the night.

Wingman Chris Hyde played an excellent running game and kicked two goals, while half-back Andrew Raines provided plenty of drive.

Defender Heath Scotland was Carlton's best, while skipper Anthony Koutoufides did some solid work in the midfield and Ryan Houlihan showed more polish than most other players on the ground.

Both coaches admitted the skills on display were poor, with Richmond coach Terry Wallace saying it was tough to sit in the coaches' box and endure it.

"I have got to say I can't recall one that was more difficult," Wallace said.

"Just from the fact that there were so many wasted opportunities and so many opportunities to ice the game and we just kept leaving the door open.

"You start getting horrible feelings when that happens that the result may all of a sudden just twist and go the other direction.

"Fortunately at the end of the day they still give you four points for it."

Wallace said the effort put in by his side and amount of midfield run was fantastic, in sharp contrast to the skills.

"We could not hit the side of a barn, so that's the other side of the game," he said.

Carlton coach Denis Pagan said it was a similar story for the Blues.

"It was really a game of errors and missed opportunities, poor decision-making, turnovers," he said.

"It wasn't one or two things, it was just everywhere, opportunity after opportunity."

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