His application for the full-time Richmond job has already been sent.

But Tigers caretaker coach Jade Rawlings may want to update his resume after boosting his credentials in Richmond's 17-point AFL loss to an in-form Adelaide at the Gold Coast on Saturday night.

The deadline for applications closed last Friday, with Richmond legend Kevin Sheedy expected to be ahead of a long queue including as many as 15 men for the 2010 gig.

But Rawlings stated a strong case at Gold Coast Stadium on Saturday night by almost sparking a boilover with his address at three-quarter time.

In the end, the Tigers whittled a 46-point fourth quarter deficit down to a couple of kicks at the death before the Crows held on to register their sixth straight win.

"I spoke to the group at three-quarter time about, in the face of adversity, what sort of performance can we put out," the likeable Rawlings said.

"(I said) who knows (what would happen) if we got some sort of roll on, because we have got an ability to score quickly."

Indeed they did - livewire Robin Nahas ended up with four goals while Mitch Morton finished with a double and had a hand in four others as the Tigers went within a whisker of an upset.

"Richmond didn't play like a side that had only won three games - they were fantastic," Adelaide coach Neil Craig gushed.

It was a timely boost for Rawlings in just his third game at the helm.

He crashed back to earth, following a dream first-up win over West Coast, courtesy of a 56-point last round drubbing at the hands of St Kilda.

In that match, Richmond went 77 minutes without scoring a point.

The Tigers were again hard-pressed to register on the scoreboard early against Adelaide as the Crows kicked the first five goals to lead by 32 points in the opening term.

Tom Hislop finally broke the drought when he kicked a goal in the 22nd minute.

Despite a mountain of handballs leading to turnovers in the first and second terms, Richmond dug in to stay in touch before things threatened to get ugly in the fourth.

Rawlings looked like a proud dad after Richmond's storming finish.

"I was extremely pleased with how they ran it out," he said.

"We nearly won a game against a very good football side.

"So we will stick to our criteria with our selection about who's in form, who's prepared to do what we want, follow instructions and we'll keep going down that path.

"Our young guys were terrific so why would we change it?"

Rawlings singled out Nahas, Hislop and impressive debutant Jayden Post for praise.

The fightback was soured by a calf injury early to form midfielder Nathan Foley.

Rawlings was feeling no pain after the stirring comeback - and certainly wasn't going to buy into coaching speculation.

"I have remained undistracted," Rawlings said.

"I haven't heard a word mentioned about it from the playing group."

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