Richmond coach Terry Wallace refused to blame defender Jake King's decision to unnecessarily rush a behind late in the game for the Tigers' dramatic fade-out against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

The Tigers appeared set for back-to-back wins for the first time since 2006 when they led the unbeaten Bulldogs by 19 points with just over three minutes remaining.

It was then that King, one of the Tigers' best players on the day, chose to concede a rushed behind when appearing under little pressure and from the resultant kick-in the Tigers got themselves in all sorts of trouble resulting in Nathan Foley being caught in possession by Daniel Cross.

Cross then converted a difficult set shot from near the boundary line to cut the margin to 12 points with just over two minutes remaining and suddenly from needing four goals to avoid defeat, the Dogs only needed two which they got through Robert Murphy and Will Minson in the last two minutes to tie the game.

But Wallace said it would be harsh to blame King for the Tigers failure to take home four points instead of two.

"There are probably half a dozen things we could identify we did wrong at the end there so it identify just one thing is very unfair," he said.

Wallace said King only rushed a behind because he felt he had no safe target to kick the ball to.

"We just didn't get the ball out (into space) before we tried to play that style of footy," he said of his team's failed bid to slow the game down and keep possession in the dying minutes.

"But that is a learning experience for our guys but it's a very harsh lesson."

"We just didn't handle that last four minutes as well as we could have."

"There are probably four or five actions we will look at in our (post-game) review - from (missed) opportunities to spoil the ball to missed tackles to kicking down the line to stepping back through the goals (and conceding a rushed behind as King did)."

Wallace believes his team tired noticeably in the last five minutes after coming off the long trip to Perth last week where the Tigers beat the Dockers in 30 degree heat.
"I thought our guys run out of legs a bit, we came back off a 30 degree game in Perth a and I still think (playing) Saturday night games in Perth early in the season would be better (than playing Sunday games)."

"We didn't get in (to Melbourne) until 1.30am Monday morning and the Bulldogs were coming off a Friday night game so it was a bit of a learning experience for our guys."

But for all that Wallace conceded his team should have beaten the Bulldogs.

"This very much felt like a loss today," he said.

"That is the natural reaction when you have been in front late in the game and all of sudden the opposition comes at you."