RICHMOND coach Adem Yze says Toby Nankervis will be worried about making contact with an umpire, but believes the incident was not against the rules.

The Tigers skipper collided heavily with the adjudicating umpire at a centre bounce during Saturday's 84-point loss to Gold Coast, sending the man in yellow clattering to the People First Stadium deck.

Opponent Jarrod Witts almost tripped over the prone umpire in a bizarre passage of play.

Speaking after the match, Yze felt like it was an unfortunate set of circumstances.

"He'll obviously be worried about it, but when we looked at the vision he wasn't standing behind that protected space," Yze said.

"The ball's just landed in that spot. It's unusual for the ball to land back on the umpy's head. 

"The poor umpy got hit by both rucks … I don't think that's against the rules.

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"It's just unfortunate. That's just a footy act, an accident."

The incident came amidst a horror performance from the Tigers in which they kicked just two goals and got overrun by the hungry Suns.

Yze said although the performance was "probably a step backwards", he was pleased to try some of his younger players in different positions.

Harry Armstrong played his first senior game in four months and showed some promise, while Taj Hotton, Maurice Rioli Jnr and Seth Campbell were all given stints in the midfield at different times.

One setback for the Tigers was the early knee injury to Jonty Faull.

The young forward will miss the rest of the season with what Yze expects is a medial collateral ligament problem.

"It's nothing too sinister, but it looks like he's escaped an ACL," Yze said.

Gold Coast counterpart Damien Hardwick was pleased with the win that will see the Suns finish round 21 in either fifth or sixth position.

However, with matches against Carlton, Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide and Essendon to come, he wasn't buying in on any possible top four thoughts.

"If you had said to me we'd win by 80 I'd be absolutely pumped," he said.

"But once again we've got our work cut out for us in a couple of areas, but the 80 per cent was pretty solid.

"You'll always drift there (to thoughts of top four), but keep where your feet are … we've just got to keep winning games."

One blow for the day was a hamstring injury suffered by young midfield ace Will Graham in his return through the VFL after missing three months with a shoulder problem.

"My little heart broke when I saw him walking off," Hardwick said.