HARLEY REID has once again found himself mired in controversy following his side’s loss to Richmond on Sunday afternoon.

Reid gave away a free kick that resulted in a late goal in a game decided by two points and was involved in an incident with a Richmond supporter in the final term.

The field umpire deemed that Reid knocked the ball out of Ralphsmith's hands and the 50 metre penalty put the Tiger within range. Ralphsmith converted to put the Tigers in front at the start of the fourth quarter.

In his post match press conference West Coast coach Andrew McQualter was asked about Reid's moments.

“Did he tap it? I'm not sure,” said McQualter in his post match interview.

“I'm not saying it's a mistake (from the umpires). I'm just not sure it was deliberate. I think it looked to me, I looked at the tape again, it almost just looked like a little bump where the ball fell out of Ralphsmith's hand. So I'm not, you know, not rapt with it, but I'm not sure it was an ill-disciplined act.”

Reid was then seen pointing at a Richmond fan on the fence late in the game. McQualter said he had seen the incident, but couldn’t provide further detail at this stage as to what took place.

“I saw it. I saw it happening live, but I've got no idea what happened. It looks like he (Reid) got himself a bit riled up. So I'm sure we'll look into it in the AFL and figure out what happened there," he said.

Both sides came into the game with late changes. The Eagles withdrew their captain Oscar Allen right before the first bounce, and the Tigers made a late change to replace Jayden Short with James Trezise. Both were ruled out due to knee soreness.

“He (Allen) was really close to playing. So we gave him up to the last minute to play," McQualter explained.

"He just hurt it a couple of weeks ago, I think… It's his good knee, so it's not a long-term issue. So we'll just work through that with him and hopefully he'll be right for next week.”

Richmond coach Adem Yze was thrilled to see his side win for the third time this season. Yze was pleased to see his leaders standing up and his younger players standing tall around them.

Yze compared young defender Tom Brown, whose tackle in the dying minute saved the game for the Tigers, with premiership player Nick Vlaustin.

"'Brownie' looked really potent. The way he finished the game with the reading of the game and understanding and how smart he is. He gets to play alongside Nick Vlaustin every week, and I see a young Nick Vlaustin growing," Yze said.

“He's got the same temperament, same ability and he's got the footy chip. He understands the game and knows what's required in certain moments.”

Yze also spoke highly of key forward Tom Lynch who kicked two goals and took an equal game-high six marks up forward. The Tigers played three talls in their forward line, with debutant Tom Sims coming into the team alongside Jonty Faull and Lynch.

"Lynchie gives us a focal point. He would be shattered that he missed that goal late. But what he did for us for the whole game, straightens us up, creates a contest. And then Tom Sims and Jonty Faull play bigger around him. Jonty Faull looked like he took a big step today. He looked like a quality key position player on an AFL field, which is terrific. That's credit to Lynchie," Yze said.

Veteran Nathan Broad came off the ground with a dislocated finger, but returned to the ground later in the match.

“He was worried it could have been a compound fracture, but it wasn't. His finger was pointing the wrong way, but went and popped it back in. His last quarter was terrific. And not only his last quarter, his whole game. He's such a leader for us down there," he said.

Football pundits commented prior to the season that Richmond may go through the year winless. Sunday’s win makes it the young Tigers third win for the season. 

Yze said post match he is more interested in growth than wins and losses.

“We're not looking at win-loss for the season. We're looking at growth. And if that gets us to five, six, seven wins, well, that's great. But if it doesn't, we still want to be able to grow even in our losses," he said.

The Tigers will face North Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday, whilst the Eagles will still be searching for their first win of the season when they play St Kilda at home on Sunday afternoon.