While Richmond's finance department would have been thrilled with the deal, the football department must have always had its doubts.

In selling two of its home games to Darwin and Cairns this season, the Tigers earned themselves the handsome and not-to-be-sniffed-at sum of $1 million. Beancounters at Tigerland would have thrown their calculators in the air in celebration at CEO Brendon Gale signing off on those particular contracts.

But entering that almost Faustian pact, Richmond have helped cruel their chances at making the final eight this season. They lost badly to Port Adelaide in Darwin in Round 10, a defeat that precipitated a terrible decline in form, then yesterday somehow contrived to lose to Gold Coast in the first AFL home-and-away match played in Cairns.

So in sowing the wind, the Tigers have reaped the whirlwind.

It should be said Richmond didn't have to play this match at Cazaly's Stadium. No-one forced them to. And, anyway, they should have easily accounted for Gold Coast whether they were playing in Cairns, Coonabarabran or Coober Pedy.

But they chose to dance with the devil and it is a decision that has come back to haunt them.

The defeat to Port Adelaide in Darwin seven weeks ago was especially painful. For the Tigers went into that match on the back of some irresistible form, having beaten Essendon the previous week and having won four of its past five games to sit in ninth spot. Conversely, the Power languished on the bottom of the ladder with just one win from its first nine games.

Yet, Port had played in Darwin seven times before and understood the conditions and the ground. The Tigers had never played a home-and-away match there. The Power seemed much better prepared in tackling the humid, energy-sapping conditions: they wore gloves and sweatbands in the match, and handled the slippery ball considerably better than the Tigers, who decided against wearing gloves and over-possessed the ball.

So Richmond didn't just give up the advantage of playing at the MCG in front of 30,000 and head to a neutral venue; they actually handed the advantage to Port. After taking a lead in at half-time, the yellow-and-black wilted in the second half to lose by 15 points.

Funnily enough, that was the margin again on Saturday at Cazaly Stadium, as Richmond squandered a 13-point lead at the last change to be totally overrun in the final term.

In one final tie-in that links the two matches, Port lifted itself off the bottom of the ladder with its Darwin win; Gold Coast performed a similar feat after its Cairns conquest yesterday.

So Richmond won't have to look far to find opponents for its two Top End games in 2012; on that record, clubs will be absolutely falling over themselves to take on the Tigers.

Coach Damien Hardwick yesterday bristled at any suggestion his club had done the wrong thing in pawning the two home games but, behind closed doors and among friends, he'd obviously be filthy these eminently winnable matches weren't played at the MCG. He's got a coaching career to think about, as well as the club's financial health.

One final question that has to be asked after Richmond's weekend debacle is this: would Collingwood, West Coast, Essendon or Adelaide ever be in the position where they needed to sell home games interstate to help the balance the budget? Obviously not.

So that is another reason why the league - for all its attempts at levelling the playing field - need to address growing inequities in those parts of club operations not bound by a salary cap.

For we now have a situation where the rich and powerful can plough as much money as they like into their burgeoning football departments. They can recruit the best doctors, buy state-of-the-art physiotherapy and recovery equipment, pay for mid-season Arizona rehab trips and appoint 21 assistant coaches - yet some clubs they play against need a whip-around to buy the oranges at half-time, have to recycle their ankle strapping and make enough from the annual players' fundraiser for an end-of-season trip to Wonthaggi.