Richmond's forward half pressure appears to be the key to the Tigers premiership chances.
While the plaudits will fall the way of Dustin Martin for his outstanding display on Friday night against Geelong, the Tigers incredible pressure underpinned their win.
Coach Damien Hardwick said in the lead-up that the Tigers pressure was their "one wood" and they felt they had failed in that area during their previous encounter with the Cats in Round 21.
After the resounding victory against Geelong at the MCG, Tigers forward Dan Butler told ESPN it was the forward group's sole focus on Friday night.
"It's been the aim for all our small forwards all year," Butler said.
"We just try and put on as much pressure as we can and if we get touches and goals then great but all our foundation comes from great pressure."
The Tigers had seven players, including Butler, who registered less than 10 disposals in the qualifying final win but six of the seven laid four tackles or more. Butler laid five and kicked a goal. Jacob Townsend laid three but kicked two important goals for his side.
Butler said the Tigers never panicked despite a dominant first half not yielding a significant lead. The Cats drew level at one stage in the third term after the Tigers had kicked 3.8 but Butler said the inaccuracy did not cause alarm.
"Not particularly. We would've loved to kick straight," Butler said.
"We were kicking points but we were still getting shots on goal which was the main thing. We felt like we were playing a good brand of footy and we thought if we kept playing the way we were the results would come."
Butler said the huge pro-Tigers crowd was a massive factor on the night.
"It was pretty amazing," Butler said.
"The Tiger Army came here tonight. There's so many of them. They've supported us all year and they've been great. But it was just spine-tingling running out under the banner and hearing nearly 100,000 people screaming for you. It definitely contributed to us winning.
"It was just a deafening noise. You were standing 10m away from your teammate and you can't even hear what they're saying. It was great feeling and a great win.
"I think it's a pretty good advantage. I'd say being on the opposite side it would be a bit daunting coming up against 70 or 80,000 Tiger fans."
The Tigers now face a second bye in three weeks ahead of a home preliminary final. They appeared to handle the pre-finals bye well after the players took a few days off early in the bye week. Butler said he expected the same this week.
"I think we've just got to keep things as normal as possible," Butler said.
"We'll have a decent hit out next week I'd imagine. The boys will rest up. I think there'll be a few sore boys out here tonight but we'll just try and keep it as normal as possible and keep to a routine.
"I don't mind the rest. I think a few days off just for that mental break as well is pretty important."