Grimes owns a winery in Victoria's Mount Macedon and, as it has for many people, the pressures of COVID-19 placed plenty of stress on the business, making him reluctant to leave home for an extended period.

But when Richmond came under scrutiny after senior players indicated they were not keen on entering a hub, Grimes opted to temporarily head north to silence the criticism.

"I packed that light coming up here because Elisha, my wife, was in Melbourne," Grimes told the Sunday Footy Show.

"We were copping a lot of heat, Richmond players, for thinking about maybe not coming into the hub and it was a lot of talk.

"I thought 'well I don't want to add to that - so I'll come up for two weeks, I'll do the two weeks and then I'm going to have to come back'.

"The business, the farm, there was so much going on for us personally given COVID and everything - we had staff that we were trying to pay throughout this time and it was really tough.

"So I thought in my mind 'I'm going to be here for two weeks and then I'm going to be coming straight back'."

Months later, Grimes revealed the hub had become like "home" for the Tigers and brought the players closer together.

Lockdown initially proved challenging for the Tigers, with the biggest hurdle coming in early September when youngsters Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were sent home after a drunken brawl outside a Gold Coast takeaway food outlet.

Grimes admitted that indiscretion had left Richmond's leadership initially questioning the culture they had created - but ultimately the setback galvanised them.

That culminated in Saturday night's AFL grand final win over Geelong - a premiership Grimes said he valued the most of the three he has won with the Tigers because of the sacrifices made around the league.

"In the days after the incident where the guys left the hub, a lot of us were at rock bottom," Grimes said.

"We felt like as a playing group, as a club, we'd been challenged.

"We had a huge game - we actually played Geelong that week as well (and won). It was a moment for us where we had to galvanise.

"We've gone from rock bottom to just growing and growing, and we built something that was just remarkable - it was by far the most rewarding season I've ever played in."

Australian Associated Press