Jack Riewoldt 300: Moved clash and Vic lockdown to keep Tiger army out of milestone game
Jack Riewoldt won’t have his family there to watch his 300th game. But the Richmond champion is adamant the venue switch won’t spoil his celebrations.
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A gracious Jack Riewoldt says a last-minute change of venue - from the MCG to Metricon Stadium - will not spoil his 300th game celebrations against Brisbane on Friday night.
Riewoldt will become just the fourth Tiger in club history — after Richmond legends Jack Dyer, Francis Bourke and Kevin Bartlett — to reach the milestone when he faces the Lions at the Tigers fortress.
Sadly for the club great, the Tiger army is set to be shut out of the party with Victoria set to go back into lockdown from midnight on Thursday.
But Riewoldt told the Herald Sun there would be other days for fanfare.
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“There’s always next week for running through banners and everything that comes with that,” he said.
“I’ve had the best week and whilst I might not have my real family there, at least I’ll have my RFC family.
“Love the process and the journey not the outcome.”
“Earlier, Riewoldt had told a press conference at the MCG, alongside Bartlett and Bourke, that it did not bother him where the game was played.
“It’s an evolving situation and clearly it’s a game of football when it comes down to it,” Riewoldt said.
“And it is an important game of football for me, but there are more important things at stake here at the moment.
“And that’s obviously the health and wellbeing of everyone here in Victoria that have done it tough.
“The whole week has been special to me and the way I’ve been treated by the club, the media and the public is the thing that means the most to me.
“There could be one person or there could be 100,000 people in that stand on the weekend and it will still be as important to me and also extremely important to where our season sits at the moment too.”
The Tigers’ dream of a third premiership in a row appears over after they dropped to 12th last weekend following a fourth consecutive defeat.
Although, Riewoldt again warned against writing his side off.
“I think for us it is just about trying to have an impact on every game every week,” he said.
We’re starting to rally a few troops and get a few people back.
“Mathematically we’re still a massive chance of making the finals and that seventh and eighth spot is wide open.
“So anyone between seventh and 14th can still get in and all you have to do is get there.
“We’ve seen the Bulldogs from 2016 impact the finals from seventh and they went on to win the premiership.
“We believe if we get our core nucleus back, and we’ll see a few names back tomorrow that are exciting, and hopefully over time we’ll get a couple more back and you never know.”
Six-pack Jack: The ‘incredible’ rise of Tigers leader
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says Jack Riewoldt has grown into an incredible leader and teammate after briefly considering trading the superstar forward for a six-pack of beer earlier in his career.
Hardwick said Riewoldt should be admired as a great of the game and a champion of the club he prepares for his 300th match against Brisbane on Friday night.
It is a cutthroat contest for the reigning premier as it looks to welcome back ruckman Toby Nankervis and has not ruled out Shane Edwards and Kane Lambert returning from injury.
Richmond is desperate to keep its finals hopes alive and honour Riewoldt, who Hardwick said has always been prepared to have an uncomfortable conversation about the team’s direction or game plan in the best interests of the club.
“That is who Jack is. He is very, very smart,” Hardwick said.
“He has got a long career ahead of him in whatever he wants to do — in AFL footy, in media, in coaching, he is very, very diligent in what he does.
“He will always challenge you with the things we want to try in our game plan, but that is what we love about the guy.
“That is what the very best players do. There was a time I think earlier on in his career I was prepared to trade him for a six-pack of Furphy, but we move on pretty quickly from those.”
Hardwick famously said that he had to remove Riewoldt’s “foot from his mouth and my foot from his arse” after the full-forward said the Tigers had made a mistake trying to copy Hawthorn’s short-kicking game style in 2014.
The comments landed Riewoldt in hot water at the time as Richmond made a poor start to that season.
But Hardwick said on Wednesday the goal kicker now always put the team first.
“His growth from when we all got here to where he is now, it’s been incredible,” he said. “He’s a wonderful man on and off the field, incredible leader, incredible father, incredible husband.
“We are so proud of the person he has become and more important he is still learning and still growing, so he will go down as one of the all-time greats, not only at our club, but the AFL in general.”
Hardwick also fiercely defended skipper Trent Cotchin in the wake of a flat fortnight.
The senior coach said Cotchin continued to play a selfless role for the team and would not kick-chase to boost his own numbers if it helped ease the pressure on him.
“What people don’t realise is Trent has been a battering ram for 15 years of his career,” he said.
“There wouldn’t be a harder player in the competition.
“People are quick to jump on players, that’s the Australian way at various stages.
“This guy is an incredible player. We are not a stats-oriented football club, we can have Trent getting 35 touches going backwards and sideways, but that is not how we play.
“People can judge him on his performance at the weekend, that’s fine.
“Champions have bad days sometimes, but the reality is he is a very, very good player in a very good side that isn’t quite performing to the level at the moment.”
RIVAL’S JEALOUS TEXT TO JACK: ‘YOU STOLE MY MOMENT’
Jack Riewoldt has revealed that Adelaide’s Rory Sloane sent him a “jealous” text a month after the Tigers walloped the Crows in the 2017 Grand Final.
But Sloane’s message was as much about the champion forward’s grandstanding efforts after the historic victory than the game itself — when he gatecrashed The Killers’ stage to sing Mr Brightside.
“I remember Rory Sloane texted me about a month after it all happened and he said I am so jealous of you, my favourite band is The Killers and we obviously beat Adelaide that day in the final,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“So he said I lived his ultimate day, he said I’m so jealous of you and we bonded over that.”
As Riewoldt approaches his 300th game against Brisbane at the MCG on Friday night he has reflected on the tough times at Richmond before a golden run of three premierships in four years.
Riewoldt was drafted by the Tigers in the 2006 national draft. In his first season the Tigers finished last, and it took them until 2012 to taste finals action.
“I’m so glad that I experienced the real hardship (early on),” he said on AFL 360.
“Of not winning a lot of games, even down to training in sub standard facilities at Punt Road and everything that came with that, that I’ve been able to see what it is like on the other side.
“And then to win a premiership at a club with an A grade facility, and at a club that just has an amazing culture.
“I’m glad that’s the way it’s happened, that it has been the hardship then the highlights.”
Riewoldt has won three premierships, three Coleman medals, two best-and-fairests, kicked 700 gaols and has been named an All-Australian three times.
But in an emotional, wide-ranging interview on AFL 360 he admitted that team success in his career coincided with him no longer being a “selfish player”.
“I think, ultimately, the one thing I‘m most proud of is that I reckon I’ve gone from being a selfish player,” he said.
“And not ultimately selfish but just not understanding what it’s like to be a great team player, to what I feel like is one of my greatest strengths now that I’m certainly one of our best team players in terms of the way I go about it and changed my whole mindset on how I wanted to play football and what I wanted to be known for.
“I suppose it‘s sort of coincided with reaching that ultimate success as well as a team.”
Riewoldt also revealed he had a brash encounter with Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams in 2006.
The “cocky” young Tasmanian told Williams he would play 300 AFL games.
“I remember draft camp in 2006 and Choco Williams asked me in my interview, and he was known for being a very abrupt interviewer of young men, and he said how many games are you going to play?” he said.
“And I was very cheeky … and I said I’ll play 300 and he said yeah righto you know only one per cent of players ever play 300 games and I said I’ve got that covered.
“And sure enough it has bloody come true I can’t believe it.”
RIEWOLDT ON THIS WEEK …
“It’s a short week fitting a lot of things in and I know how important it is to the club as well as myself and obviously my family and everyone that’s been a part of my journey so it’s not one that you can sort of just brush by and play it low key so there’s a lot of things to cover, but it’s gonna be an incredible journey over the next few days leading into the game Friday night and what’s not lost on me is that the importance of Friday night for us and our football club more than anything that we need to get back on track a little bit.”
RIEWOLDT ON HIS FAMILY …
“I think you fight away to the end of your career and I’ve probably been in that little mental battle for probably this year, just thinking the end is coming and I know that I’m closer to the end than I am the start so there’s been a lot of thoughts go through my mind about this could be the last time I do this, but this week’s been one where I’ve just sort of really started to play a few memories back in my mind and Carly’s done an amazing job and actually kept a scrapbook … of every article I’ve been involved in … it’s amazing when you just look back through and the memories that it brings back and even just parts of games that never think about, you read a little scoreline or you read a whole lot, you go, holy crap 15 years has gone very, very fast, very fast.”
RIEWOLDT ON HIS HEROES …
“I think my mother’s fairly confident so there’s some sort of genetics I think to do that. I loved sport as a kid and just loved playing and you know I’ve been blessed to have some great role models in my life, especially football. Rooey was probably my hero growing up as a kid and probably still my hero today and I played footy with Jade Rawlings when I was 17 years of age when I was playing for the Tassie devils so I got a great AFL experience there before I even was drafted and then I was under Matthew Richardson for three years and three great Tasmanian champion forwards to ask them anything I wanted to do so. I was always very fortunate.”
RIEWOLDT ON CRAWLING UP THE MCG CHANGEROOM STAIRS …
“That was 2011 and against the Saints.
“I got knocked out in the first quarter, thought I was right to come back on the ground and I can remember just saying ‘Dimma, Dimma, Dimma’ trying to get his attention because he was coaching from the sidelines at that point.
“I tried to make myself look like I was right and had a bit of a kick and stuff. I then got told I wasn’t going back on and sat in the background with a bit of a frown for the rest of the game.
“The game was a draw so it gets replayed a lot when we play the Saints. About three weeks ago I just got a barrage of younger players texting me footage and it’s just like, am I gonna re-live this every time this game’s on!?”
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