Richmond has pulled off arguably its best win since Terry Wallace became coach in 2005 and in the process revived its finals chances in spectacular fashion after shocking second-placed Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.

The Tigers' 16.9 (105) to 10.16 (76) win was even more remarkable considering the absence through injury of star forward Nathan Brown and the late withdrawal of their number one midfielder and last year's best and fairest runner-up Nathan Foley.

The shock win, on the day which was supposed to be all about the Hawks' star forward Lance 'Buddy' Franklin closing on his first century of goals, instead became a triumph for hard work and tenacity as young defenders such as Luke McGuane, Kelvin Moore and Will Thursfield joined forces with the Tigers' two most experienced players in Matthew Richardson and Joel Bowden to pull off the remarkable win.

But Wallace, who has been under pressure seemingly since he took over at Punt Road four years ago, deserves much of the credit as well as he beat the Hawks at their own game on Sunday by constantly putting extra players into the Hawks' attacking zone to frustrate Franklin and his key forward partner Jarryd Roughead - who played his worst game of the season.

In many ways it was similar to other 'miracle' wins Wallace had pulled off previously as a coach - for Richmond in 2006 when they beat top side Adelaide at Telstra Dome after having lost by 118 points the week before and for his previous club the Western Bulldogs when they handed Essendon their only loss of the 2000 season.

But for the Tigers this win could be the signal of a long overdue re-birth of this sleeping giant of the competition, which has endured just two finals appearances since its last grand final appearance in 1982.

This win lifts the Tigers to within half a game of eighth-placed Brisbane with two rounds remaining - although they could drop to six points behind the top eight if St Kilda beats Fremantle in the Sunday twilight game.

But considering the Tigers have home games to come against struggling pair Fremantle and Melbourne they now have a great chance of ending their finals drought stretching back to 2001.

The Tigers defence was magnificent on Sunday, limiting the Hawks to their equal second lowest score of the season as McGuane kept Roughead goalless while Franklin kicked a wasteful 3.6 plus two other