Jack Riewoldt made mistake but calls to drop him were unnecessary, writes Mark Robinson
JACK Riewoldt won’t be traded from Richmond at the end of the year. It’s a nonsense to suggest the club should consider it.
Mark Robinson
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JACK Riewoldt won’t be traded from Richmond at the end of the year.
It’s a nonsense to suggest the club should consider it.
Mistakes shouldn’t follow mistakes. It’s why Riewoldt is playing today.
In a game demanding substance from both teams, coach Damien Hardwick was right not to cut off his nose to spite his face.
RIEWOLDT SURVIVES COACH’S WRATH
Carlton coach Mick Malthouse axed Jarryd Waite after Round 3 because, among other things, Waite didn’t chase out of the backline. The Blues lost to Melbourne the next week and Blues couldn’t mark the ball forward of centre.
It was a mistake from Malthouse. To teach a lesson, he perhaps learned a lesson: Punish them, but don’t punish the team.
It’s the same with Riewoldt.
He can be troublesome, petulant and childish — I will never forget him hiding behind the car near Richmond railway station, popping up as if he was Mr Bean — but Riewoldt is not a bad person.
He doesn’t urinate on windows, get in fights or have boozy nights and blame the use of prescription drugs for not turning up to training.
No, Jack Riewoldt’s problem is honesty. He’s too honest. He plays the game that way. If he’s upset, he sooks. If he’s excited, he’s acts like he’s drunk on raspberry fizz. If he kicks six he thinks he’s the matchwinner. If he kicks 1.4, he believes he’s lost the Tigers the game.
It’s all in with Jack, good and bad.
He was truly gutted by the events of this week.
And, in true Jack fashion, he believed his press conference had gone swimmingly. So much so he told the Tigers’ media department shortly afterwards all was hunky dory, until he was asked to listen to the final parts of his interview, those about the Tigers game plan and how they tried to copy the Hawks and failed.
He didn’t mean it like that, he said.
Too late, Jack. Honesty strangled him again.
After a foot up the bum from the coach on Thursday, Riewoldt didn’t want to front the media at Punt Rd. He said he was going to slip away, preferably in someone’s else’s car. That plan failed, so Riewoldt jumped the fence and, well, just cue the Benny Hill music.
The farcical end to the week shouldn’t mask the real problems at Richmond.
They’re a poor footy team lacking leaders across the board, lacking influential talls and, as
Riewoldt admitted, the game plan is going one way while the rest of the competition is going another.
Riewoldt’s honesty was welcomed by mostly everyone else, but not by the coach.
Riewoldt basically said Hardwick’s system of playing football — probably first initiated at about Round 9 last year — had failed them.
It was based on less frenetic ball movement from the back half, use by foot and keeping possession, which altogether produced less turnovers resulting in opposition goals.
As Riewoldt said: “Unfortunately, we went one way with our game, and the game went the other way really. We probably tried to copy Hawthorn a little bit too much with our kicking style.’’
Ouch.
It’s not uncommon for teams to play copycat with the competition leaders, but the question is: How much of the Hawthorn way have the Tigers indeed followed?
Hardwick was an assistant to Alastair Clarkson so naturally there are comparisons.
The kicking game is Hawks to a T, and all teams try to press like the Hawks.
Hawks went recycling with Josh Gibson, David Hale, Jonathan Simpkin, Matt Spangher, Brian Lake, Shaun Burgoyne and Kyle Chaney.
The Tigers went recycling with Troy Chaplin, Ricky Petterd, Aaron Edwards, Shaun Grigg, Nathan Gordon, Shaun Hampson, Bachar Houli, Chris Knights, Matt Thomas, Ivan Maric and Orren Stephenson.
Hawks bring in mature rucks, so do Tigers.
Hawks put Sam Mitchell to a back flank, Tigers trial Dustin Martin on a back flank.
Hawks move Lance Franklin up field and play Jarryd Roughead from the square, the Tigers strip weight off Riewoldt up and play him all over the forward line, with Ty Vickery deep.
It’s only an aside, but interesting all the same.
The greater interest is how the Tigers play today and how Riewoldt plays today.
Both have plenty on the line.
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