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Richmond, led by a dominant Dustin Martin, have dished out a Wednesday night AFL mauling to claim a 41-point win over the Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium.

Richmond have sounded a Wednesday night warning to their AFL rivals, demolishing the Western Bulldogs by 41 points at Metricon Stadium.

The Tigers, playing without premiership players Daniel Rioli and Jack Graham or the injured Nick Vlastuin, blew the Bulldogs away in a dominant opening half before going on to seal a 13.12 (90) to 7.7 (49) win.

The Tigers' fifth win of 2020 lifts them up to third as the league enters a period of 33 games in just 20 days.

As well as the four points, Tigers coach Damien Hardwick will be delighted with a dominant display by superstar midfielder Dustin Martin.

The dual Norm Smith Medallist was at his gamebreaking best, kicking three goals and picking up 26 disposals in an ominous performance.

There was also solid outings by key forward Tom Lynch, with two first-half goals to shake off some of his recent slumber, and captain Trent Cotchin marking his return from a hamstring injury with 17 disposals and six tackles.

"Dustin is one of those guys, he does take a little bit of time to get into the season and get up and going," Hardwick said.

"We can see what he's like when he plays his very best, how he can help set the scene and put a steely resolve into us.

"I thought the skipper was instrumental too, his best form of leadership is leading on the ground and it was noticeable having him in and around the clinches."

The Tigers set up their win with 10 goals to three by halftime, with Jake Aarts kicking a career-best three goals while Jason Castagna kicked two majors and claimed seven marks.

Mitch Wallis continued his good form in front of goal for the Bulldogs with three majors, while Laitham Vandermeer had two goals.

Playing in his 150th match, Bulldog Jackson Macrae was busy in a well-beaten team, leading the game with 37 disposals.

Despite winning five of their past six, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said Wednesday's result showed his team is far from their best.

"We've strung some wins together but tonight our first half was obviously, a little bit of a disaster, unfortunately," Beveridge said.

"We've just got to move on.

"It's a sub-par performance from us even though, as I said, I don't think we've been playing extremely well anyway but in this new series of games we just got to make sure that we move on pretty quickly."

Adding to the Bulldogs' pain, they lost Matt Suckling in the opening term to a hamstring injury, with Beveridge conceding he is likely to miss a handful of games.

The Tigers will be out to build on their performance on Tuesday when they play second-placed Brisbane at Metricon Stadium in the third of four games in 16 days for the reigning premiers.