Richmond's first win of the AFL season has come surprisingly easy, a Tigers side buoyed by the return of star forward Nathan Brown thrashing a dismal Melbourne 18.16 (124) to 11.9 (75) at the MCG.

Richmond remained on the bottom of the ladder despite the 49-point victory, but moved to within two premiership points of 15th-placed Melbourne to tighten what appears to be a two-team battle for the wooden spoon.

Given their performance, the Demons would be deserved recipients of the award, showing nothing of the form that helped them notch consecutive victories in the past two rounds.

The Tigers' supporters greeted the victory they had waited half a season for with several resounding renditions of the club song after the match.

The victory margin could easily have been greater, with Tiger spearhead Matthew Richardson in dominant form, other than his kicking, missing a succession of easy shots to finish the night with 3.7.

The first half was one-way traffic, as the Tigers kicked 12 goals to two, including the last nine goals of the half as the Demons offered virtually no resistance, to set up a 64-point lead by the main break.

From there, the result was beyond doubt, despite the Demons finally showing something in the third quarter, when they outscored Richmond 6.2 to 2.4 to narrow the gap to 42 points at the last change.

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said his over-riding feeling was relief after going close to winning games in recent rounds, but failing to get over the line.

"I've been really pleased with the guys, the spirit and the camaraderie amongst the group has been excellent the whole way along the line," Wallace said.

"As much as what external pressures come on and bullets are fired ... we haven't had any (negative) impact internally ourselves and we've been very much on our line about where we believe we can go and where our future is.

"We don't think we've had much luck for the year in regard to injuries and bits and pieces going on, we've had a lot of young boys out there ... to see that sort of football, you never ever lose faith in what you believe, but it just reinforces faith in what you believe internally."

Brown locked the gate on any chance of a last-quarter comeback by the Demons when he kicked his third goal for the night after marking on the lead 40m out.

It capped a highly promising return for the former All Australian, who was playing his first match since round 17 last year, after a stress reaction in the leg he broke against the Demons two years ago kept him out for the first half of this season.

Wallace also said Brown's comeback game was beyond what was expected of him.

"He was outstanding, the first quarter in particular he set the scene with the way that he played the first quarter," he said.

"It was more than my expectation of him, we probably had him out there a little bit longer than what we expected ... certainly from our point of view it was well over expectations."

There were few positives for the Demons, whose skipper David Neitz was an unsurprising pre-game withdrawal, after his recent finger surgery.

Makeshift forward Ben Holland kicked three goals in the third term after struggling against Richardson in the first half, while Jeff White consistently ruled the ruck area.

A livid Melbourne coach Neale Daniher said he was embarrassed by his team's performance, which he said was not up to AFL standard.

"That was an embarrassing and insipid effort for the first half of the game, it was really embarrassing," Daniher said.

"All credit to Richmond, they came and played some good footy, but I was disgusted with the way we played that first half and I told the players we've got to do something about it.

"Okay, we won the second half, but at half-time it was 12 goals to two and that second quarter, what can you say?

"From a coaching point of view it was embarrassing, nowhere near the standard required for AFL football.

"That's probably one of the worst performances we've put in for a long, long time."

Daniher said his players clearly went into the game not mentally switched on and every aspect of their play was poor.

"They (Richmond) got far too much space, far too much of the ball and they didn't get any pressure from the Melbourne Football Club in the first half," he said.

Both sides have injury worries, with Neitz's replacement Adem Yze injuring his groin. Richmond youngster Dean Polo was a late withdrawal due to immediate shoulder surgery, while Andy Krakouer, who was a late replacement for the Tigers, rolled his ankle.

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