Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and his players have defended fellow Tiger Shai Bolton for his actions during Thursday night's 15-point win over Carlton, but have conceded his fourth quarter taunt wasn't "a great look".
Bolton kicked a goal midway through the fourth term to put the Tigers 20 points in front, but was heavily criticised for taunting Carlton veteran Sam Docherty by showing him the ball as he ran into the open goal.
Speaking post-game, Hardwick labelled the action a "mistake" but said the 23-year-old would learn from the incident.
“Yeah, look he's made a mistake,” Hardwick told media.
“It's not us, it's not what we're about and he'll be regretful no question. He'll be accountable and responsible for it.
“It's certainly not part of who he is and part of what we are so we're disappointed, but we'll work our way through it and support him and he will learn some lessons from it.
“It's not a great look. It's not what we stand for.
“One of the things we want to do is honour the competition and that goes against that.”
Fellow Tiger Toby Nankervis conceded that the action, made when there was still plenty of game to play out, worried him, during a post-match interview with ABC Sport.
"(Shai’s) a great player & he plays with a lot of flair but I was a bit worried, there was still 15 odd minutes to go, so I wouldn’t be doing that, & I don’t think Shai would have done that if he had his time again," Nankervis told ABC Sport.
"We want to be a really humble football club that plays footy in the right way and I love the way Shai plays the game, and maybe that overstepped the mark a little bit."
Bolton ended the night with 15 disposals and two goals, helping his Tigers to an eventual 15-point win.