Richmond coach Damien Hardwick believes Dustin Martin was provoked into lashing out at Brisbane's Nick Robertson during the Tigers' win over the Lions on Sunday, an incident that could put the midfielder's Brownlow Medal chances in danger.

During a third quarter in which Martin was dominating, the Lions sent Robertson to tag the star midfielder. Video footage shows Robertson running toward Martin and appearing to knee him in a thigh. In a separate incident Martin appeared to swing a fist into Robertson's head from behind, resulting in the Lion falling to the ground clutching his face.

The contact seemed minimal, but with only one camera angle of the blow available, it was too hard to conclusively judge the strike.

Asked after the game if Martin was in trouble, Hardwick defended his player.

"When you probably get belted in the back 35 times for the game, I reckon it'd be fair enough, but I didn't see it," Hardwick said.

"We got a memo from the AFL saying that if you consistently hit someone in the back it's going to be a free kick. So that's up for the umpires to adjudicate."

Earlier in the quarter, Robertson was reported for headbutting Richmond's Trent Cotchin. Lions coach Chris Fagan said he didn't see the incident.

"To be honest with you, I haven't seen the incident," Fagan said. "So obviously something has happened, the umpire had reported him and we have a judicial system in place that will deal with that. Hopefully he hasn't done it, but if he has he deserves what comes his way."

The incidents involving Robertson, Martin and Cotchin were the main flashpoints in an often lacklustre affair that the Tigers coach labelled "frustrating".

"We played a pretty attacking style of footy at various stages, but some of those errors we committed across the half-forward line really hurt us on the scoreboard going the other way," he said.

"Our connection inside 50 wasn't quite to the level we would like … but they [Brisbane] defended pretty well."

Hardwick was pleased his team had improved in the midfield, particularly in the clearances, after they were smashed by St Kilda's midfield last week.

"Yeah, we were better balanced in and around the contest and I thought our guys hunted the contest a lot more," Hardwick said. "The only quarter we were down on that was probably the second quarter, but Brisbane upped their work rate … After that, we were strong in that facet of the game which was good, we just need to make sure we consistently take that forward."

Dion Prestia was impressive for Richmond with Hardwick describing it as his best game for the club. The former Gold Coast Sun played a run-with role against Lions danger-man Dayne Zorko, and kept him to 11 disposals.

"Really happy that he got the performance we were hoping he'd bring," said Fagan.

He said he was encouraged that his side never let Richmond blow them out of the water, but lamented the fact talented midfielders like Zorko, Dayne Beams and Tom Rockliff had had little impact.

"We were still in the game at three-quarter time, in with a chance, I thought we started a bit slowly and were lucky to be as close as we were at quarter time. Richmond were all over us.

"Our blokes kept fighting on, which I was really pleased about. We got smashed out of the centre bounce, which was clear for everyone to see, which got the game played in their half. Our defenders did a great job to defend that many inside-50s actually."

Fagan also singled out Josh Schache, who played his first game since round eight and since signing a new contract in June. Schache kicked two goals and made the most of limited opportunities with the Lions only registering 39 inside 50s.

The Lions play Carlton at the Gabba on Sunday, while the Tigers meet GWS at the MCG.