RICHMOND coach Andrew McQualter understands the disappointment Maurice Rioli would have felt after being substituted out of Sunday's win against West Coast, but will look into why the young forward waved away a call from the coaches' box.
Rioli, who was replaced by Hugo Ralphsmith in the final quarter after his seventh consecutive goalless game, appeared dejected as Richmond staff tried to hand him a phone call from coaching staff.
The 20-year-old waved away the requests, with McQualter – who said he was not the coach on the other end of the line – keen to understand what happened before commenting too much.
"The reality is I've been subbed off and it's not a nice feeling, so I understand. Young kid, he's trying to make his way, I understand if he was disappointed. So he’ll be OK," McQualter said after the 38-point win.
"I'm not exactly sure how it played out at that time. So whatever happened, we'll deal with it when we need to.
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"I'll probably just wait until I understand the situation fully before I comment any further."
McQualter conceded Sunday's win did not represent the Tigers at their best, but they had achieved what they needed to, breaking the scrappy game open with six unanswered goals either side of half-time.
The coach said he did not need to emphasise the finals opportunity in front of the 11th-placed team, which now sits just half a game behind sixth-placed St Kilda and in the thick of a mid-table jam.
"There's still a long time to go in the season and lots of room for us to grow and get better, so it's not something I have to dangle at the moment," the coach said.
"It’s a bloody even comp. The ladder position is what it is. We've just got to keep focusing on improving our footy and we'll end up where we end up.
"We came over here to get the job done and we were able to do that … it probably wasn't our best game of footy to be fair, but we certainly achieved what we tried to do."
West Coast coach Adam Simpson was disappointed his team could not break through for its first win since round two, with the club's record losing streak extending to 15 games.
The coach was pleased for senior midfielder Andrew Gaff, who was moved to the substitute role after a poor run of form but responded with one of his best games of the season after replacing injured midfielder Reuben Ginbey in the first quarter.
The dual All Australian played with intent and laid some early tackles before winning 12 of his 24 disposals in the second quarter, with Simpson now likely to recall the 31-year-old to the 22 against Carlton next Saturday.
"I get the criticism of Gaff, and Gaff's been struggling a little bit, but I thought he was excellent when he came on," the coach said.
"He's been working his backside off all year, all pre-season, and it just hasn't clicked for him.
"I suspect a bit of it has got to do with how we're going. He complements some other things in our game, and today he got on the inside a little bit. We still value what he does for us.
"It was as much about Gaffy getting the ball but also his confidence that he's still got it, because as a player sometimes you question it and until you get some evidence it's hard to shake it. Hopefully there's some evidence there today."
Simpson also paid tribute to premiership forward Jack Darling, who kicked his 500th career goal, joining champion Josh Kennedy (712 goals) and dual premiership full forward Peter Sumich (514) as just the third West Coast player in history to reach the milestone.
"He probably goes down as one of our greats. You kick 500 goals, and he's still got some footy left in him, a premiership player, and rarely misses," the coach said.
"I know he gets maligned sometimes, and it's tough to be a forward in our side at the moment, so for him to hit 500, I'm really proud of him and for him to get up today was big."
