Richmond youngster Andrew Collins says a knock to the head might have helped him produce the late goal-kicking heroics which delivered the Tigers an upset win over Sydney.

Collins kicked the final two goals as the Tigers came from 33 points down to notch a stirring four-point win at the MCG on Sunday

Minutes earlier, a head clash with Swans defender Lewis Roberts-Thomson knocked him out and the groggy forward had to be helped to the bench by trainers.

But coach Damien Hardwick said as soon as he got there, he demanded to return.

"He came off and then went straight to the board man and me and said 'I'm right'," Hardwick said.

"I said: 'You've just been carried off the ground, you dill'.

"But to his credit, he's a kid who puts his body in, he's not a big boy, but he went back on and took that fantastic mark on the goal line, which is terrific."

Collins' first of two match-winning goals came from a mark 30m out, and he admitted it had been no certainty.

"I hadn't been kicking set shots that well this week at training, so I was a little bit nervous, but I spoke to my old man last night about goal kicking," he said.

"He said just get your mind ready to go back and just say to yourself 'You'll kick this' and it just worked out alright."

He gave the Tigers the lead less than three minutes later, after marking at the back of a goalsquare pack.

Before those late majors he had just one goal for the game but said the head knock might have changed his mindset for the better.

"It probably helped me a bit, to be honest, put me in a bit of a different space," he said.

"For about 30 or 40 seconds you just get in a different headspace, I was knocked out a bit cold, but then you eventually come good."

Collins said the victory added to the squad's burgeoning belief and was sweeter given the Swans had dominated them in recent seasons.

"We built this one up as a little bit of a final for us," he said.

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