Richmond's star forward Jack Riewoldt says a new winning culture is "spreading like wildfire" at Tigerland.

Richmond haven't played an AFL final since 2001 but Saturday night's 16-point triumph over Essendon put the Tigers firmly back into the playoff hunt as Damien Hardwick's side claimed their fourth victory in five matches.

The Tigers held on in front of 83,563 fans at the MCG to win 16.9 (105) to Essendon's 13.11 (89).

"It spreads like wildfire in young teams. We've got a lot of kids who haven't played 50 games of footy," Riewoldt told the Seven Network's AFL Game Day on Sunday.

"You get a few wins under the belt and the guys like the (Jake) Batchelors, the (Reece) Concas, the (Dustin) Martins, the (Trent) Cotchins, they really just grow an extra leg and they thrive on winning games of footy.

"It's good that we bring these young guys in who haven't had the culture that Richmond has had over the last 20 years, haven't played a lot of finals.

"They (Richmond teams in recent years) have lost a lot of games and these kids don't know that. They come in here and they have blank canvases for minds and they just come out and they play footy because they love it."

Riewoldt said the massive crowd at the match was a great sign for the Tigers.

"It just shows the faithful are coming out of the woodwork and they're enjoying our game style and enjoying (seeing) us win too," he said.

The reigning Coleman Medallist has kicked 33 goals this season but says the Tigers are not a one-man band up forward.

"I'm probably not going as well as I was last year," said Riewoldt, 22.

"The push-up king (Jake King with 17 goals including three against Essendon) has kicked a few this year and our midfield has been going forward so we're getting a good spread and it's helping us become a better side."

Hardwick sounded a note of caution, saying Essendon's dominance of inside-50s 59-47 was a concern, as was getting "whacked" 50-28 in the clearances.

"The thing that kept us in it was our efficiency of ball use which was pretty high," the Tigers coach said.

Richmond's skilful midfield led by Trent Cotchin carved up the Bombers who made too many skill errors.

Hardwick said defender Dylan Grimes might miss three weeks with a hamstring strain.

"For a young footy club finding their feet, haven't had finals experience, it's probably as close to a final as we've come for a long time," Hardwick said of his emerging young team.

"The atmosphere was electric."

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