Carlton coach Brett Ratten has revealed it was a deliberate strategy by the club to confirm skipper Chris Judd's withdrawal on Friday, rather than on match day, to plant a seed of complacency in the Tigers' minds ahead of Saturday's clash at the MCG.
Ratten told his post-match media conference after his team's 30-point win that he didn't believe the Tigers were complacent, but he agreed the Blues made a statement in being able to win well without Judd in the line-up.
Richmond's price plunged when news filtered through on Friday that Judd would not be playing because of concussion sustained last week against Essendon.
But the Blues didn't miss a beat in the midfield or in terms of leadership, with Nick Stevens doing all the right things at the right time when he had the ball (26 touches) and when he didn't (10 tackles) to set a superb example.
"With Chris out it really highlighted (Stevens') impact on the game," Ratten said.
"We would send messages down and everything would get done, he just orchestrated and organised players to get the situation that we needed - he was outstanding."
"You see who takes up the responsibility and who digs in a little bit deeper, I thought our midfield generally was fantastic - Stevens, Gibbs, Murphy, everyone took up the slack - Grigg in there, Bentick, it was fantastic across the board."
"Everyone thinks that Fev has to kick seven or eight to win as well, so no Judd and 'Fev' kicks four and we win by four and-a-half goals, I thought it was very pleasing."
Ratten said he was always confident his team would finish strongly when the result was in the balance at three-quarter time.
"I think our last quarters have been outstanding for the last month. We've given teams a head-start and reeled them in or closed the gap pretty quickly," he said.
"The boys' belief in themselves and their team-mates to run out games is just increasing every time we do it."
Jarrad Waite was another singled out by the coach for his 'outstanding' effort in holding Richmond matchwinner Matthew Richardson to just 12 possessions in a midfield role before 'Richo' retired to the bench after three-quarter time with a hamstring strain.
With Richardson out of the way, Waite was able to press forward in the last quarter which allowed Simon Wiggins and Brad Fisher to 'jump out of the loop', as Ratten put it, for crucial goals and goal assists late in the contest.