The Myrtleford product was superb in Sunday's 13.6 (84) to 6.6 (44) win over Richmond before 7164 fans at Wangaratta's Norm Minns Oval.

"He's probably a bit stiff, when we talk about All-Australian contention, I think he's put a couple of All-Australian years together, he just hasn't been able to get over that line," Buckley said.

"His capacity to absorb work and to have consistent work rate through a game for four quarters is second to none."

Crisp was arguably best on ground to half-time, shutting down a number of Richmond raids with his coolness, while his trusty left boot kick-started the Pies' first quarter surge in which they kicked five goals to one.

The Tigers have claimed two of the past three flags, largely on the back of frenetic pressure, but the Pies did a Richmond on Richmond.

"Our DNA is defence and pressure and our pressure in the first and last quarters was pretty good," Buckley said.

The match was missing 11 of the teams' best players, including Richmond's two-time Norm Smith medallist Dustin Martin and Pies' big man Brodie Grundy, due to Friday night's interstate clash and given the season is still three weeks away, it naturally lacked the intensity of a regular season game.

But it was entertaining with Mason Cox and ex-Swan Darcy Cameron excelling in a shared ruck-forward role.

"I thought both he (Cameron) and Mason really stood up," Buckley said.

'He's (Cameron) a very strong aerial player, took some plucks inside forward 50, kicked a couple of goals, as well as getting around the ground, his ruck work is probably better than we'd even hoped for."

Jordan De Goey sizzled at times with three goals, while veteran Chris Mayne and Adam Treloar were also terrific. although the latter is in doubt for round one after injuring his hamstring late.

Richmond trailed by 25 points at half-time, but cut the deficit to nine points late in the third term, missing a series of opportunities though to finish with 2.6.

"Probably goes to show they're on their third game, we're on our first," Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said.

"I thought they looked a hell of a lot cleaner in and around the contest.

'I thought offensively we just lacked cohesion, every time we went inside 50, we didn't look really damaging."

The Tigers didn't kick a goal after the 13-minute mark of the third quarter with runners Liam Baker and Jayden Short their best.