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Richmond limited Melbourne to just three goals after halftime for a 33-point win on Saturday night, the Tigers' sixth-straight AFL victory.

Dustin Martin has fired Richmond past Melbourne at a miserable MCG, preserving the Tigers' winning streak as they eye a top-two AFL finish.

The Tigers broke away from Simon Goodwin's cellar dwellars in the third quarter on Saturday night, winning 13.15 (93) to 9.6 (60).

The game hung in the balance at halftime, when Richmond held just a three-point advantage.

Melbourne showed glimpses of their 2018 spirit to restrain one of the premiership favourites, with Clayton Oliver and Nathan Jones strong contributors in midfield.

As rain hit in the third term, the Demons couldn't go with the skilled Tigers side, led superbly by the 2017 Brownlow Medallist.

Martin stepped up in the wet with 11 possessions and five inside 50s in the term, helping the Tigers to a five-goal quarter that broke Melbourne's back.

Even Martin's mistakes came off; a second-quarter fumble through his own legs found Shane Edwards to set up another Richmond attack.

The 28-year-old sealed the result with a long bomb from outside 50 in the last quarter, lengthening Richmond's winning streak to six.

"It was a funny game. It was not what we were expecting out of Melbourne," coach Damien Hardwick said.

"The pressure on the game was really low ... we probably had too much time and probably rushed. The rain made us slow down."

The victory keeps Richmond inside the top four with three rounds remaining.

Remaining fixtures against West Coast, who sit second, and third-placed surprise packets Brisbane means a top-two finish is within Richmond's control.

Geelong's loss to Fremantle earlier on Saturday also keeps alive Tiger hopes of a second-straight minor premiership.

Against Melbourne, the Tigers squandered opportunities to kick away sooner, with Jack Riewoldt and Shai Bolton combining for seven behinds before Bolton finally kicked truly late in the match.

In his 150th AFL outing, Tom Lynch led Richmond's goalkicking with three majors, including a milestone 300th goal.

Bachar Houli, Dion Prestia and Jason Castagna also impressed for Richmond.

For Melbourne, a lacklustre second half means a bottom-four finish is now locked in.

"We just struggled to adjust to the conditions," Goodwin said of the second-half rain.

"There were some positives in the first half ... we really struggled to peg it back from there."

Jake Lever was forced off twice with an ankle issue but appears to have avoided serious injury.

Bailey Fritsch's performance and three-goal haul was one of the few positives for the Demons, the biggest disappointment of the AFL season.

The crowd of 37,254 was the lowest for the match-up in eight years, showing the disillusionment of Melbourne fans.

In a rare scene to end the night, umpire Shane McInerney was given a guard of honour after becoming the first umpire to officiate in 500 AFL matches.