AFL Draft: Luke Hodge and Nick Riewoldt reflect on being taken as the No.1 pick
Nick Riewoldt knew he and Justin Koschitzke were going to the Saints as a “package deal” and offers a probable reason why he was chosen at No.1.
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It has been dubbed the “super draft”.
With a top three boasting Luke Hodge, Luke Ball, Chris Judd – and a father-son selection at No.40 overall named Gary Ablett – it was easy to see why.
The kid from Colac, Hodge knew he was in the mix to go high with Ball and Judd – and what the Hawks were chasing after their shock move trading Trent Croad to Fremantle for the No.1 selection.
“Hawthorn had done the trade with Trent Croad to get the pick … and they were after a midfielder, so that brought it down to Bally, Juddy and myself,” Hodge recalls.
“I knew Bally playing footy and cricket against him since we were in primary school and I didn’t know much of Juddy other than he was a freak from all reports.
“But I think the only question mark they had was Juddy’s shoulders at the time because he’d had a left and a right reco both years going into the draft.
“It was a pretty long process because I was coming off osteitis pubis with my groins, so I was going down and getting scans . … to see if they’d healed and how angry the groins were.
“But I guess when they have to make a decision like that after trading Croad, they were making sure they were getting the right one.”
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Four premierships, two Norm Smith medals, three times an All-Australian and two club best-and-fairests attest that they did.
Hodge got a “heads up” two days before the draft, not long before some early celebrations with his now wife Lauren for her school graduation.
“It was a long 48 hours leading into the draft,” the Channel 7 commentator said.
“I can tell you it was a long drive down to Melbourne, the two-hour drive was extremely long on draft day.
“You have all these nerves and then when your name does get read out it is a relief to start with but also excitement as well …. I guess at that stage it is a dream come true when your name does get read out.
“I think it was a relief for the parents that I wasn’t going interstate.”
The rest of draft day was a blur for Hodge; a quick visit to Glenferrie before returning home to the Colac footy club to celebrate his No.1 selection with family and friends.
Once he arrived back in Melbourne to officially join the Hawks for the start of pre-season, Hodge’s bid to launch into his new AFL career was initially hampered by his recovery from osteitis pubis.
“I went straight into the rehab group,” Hodge said.
“It was a bit weird at the start because they obviously traded off Croad, they had made the decision whether it was going to be me, Bally or Juddy and then we got back there and I am in rehab.
“So all you want to do is get back out there and prove to your teammates they made the right decision picking you, but when you are stuck sitting on a bike and doing the grinder and all the other stuff in the rehab group, it was pretty frustrating to start with.”
The former Hawks captain admits the No.1 tag, coupled with his groin injury, had piled extra pressure on him at the start of his career.
“There was a bit more pressure. Bally didn’t play in his first year because he had school, he was finishing off Year 12 and Juddy just hit the spotlight and was unreal from his first game,” Hodge said.
“I think three years in I was still having stress fractures in both feet and Juddy had won a Brownlow, a premiership and a B and F.
“There was a lot of pressure that they had made a mistake, but I guess everyone develops at different stages and I took a little bit longer than what he did.
“Peter Schwab was really good. He sat me down early on and said, ‘Don’t worry about the external noise, worry about what you can handle here’.”
Hodge made his debut in Round 5, 2002, against the side he supported as a kid – and it was a case of old habits die hard for the new Hawk.
“I debuted against the team I used to barrack for and I found myself singing the Richmond theme song when it was playing before the game,” Hodge said.
“You are that nervous, you are just stressing about what to do and doing the right thing (in your first game). I was just happy I played in the win.”
RIEWOLDT: ‘NO UPSIDE’ TO BEING NO.1 PICK
Nick Riewoldt knew he was going to be a “package deal” with Justin Koschitzke a few days out from the 2000 national draft.
The Saints were loaded up with the first two picks – the first a priority selection – and had honed in on the pair of talls.
One, a young blond forward from Southport in Queensland. The other, a forward-ruck from the Murray under-18s.
“It was quite unique I guess … where a team has had the first two picks,” Riewoldt recalled.
“I knew a few days out that I was going to be going one or two because we had been brought to Melbourne and been looking around and looking at places to live.
“So I knew that Justin Koschitzke and myself were going to be a package deal if you like.
“We were going to go one or two, but neither of us knew going into the draft, which meant there was still that element of uncertainty about which number we went.
“But the destination was at least confirmed a few days out.”
Riewoldt wasn’t sure how the Saints settled on him as the No.1 choice, but wondered if the need for Koschitzke to return home immediately afterwards had any bearing on the choice.
“‘Kosi’ had to go back pretty much straight after the draft to sit exams the next day for Year 12, but I had finished Year 12 the year before because you finish a year younger in Queensland,” Riewoldt said.
“I’m not sure whether that played into me being taken first because I could actually stay and do the interviews afterwards, but that’s the way it worked out.
“I think coming from Queensland there was an element of naivety, which probably worked in my favour. You are a little bit sheltered from the hype.
“There was nowhere near as much coverage back then on the potential draftees so I came in relatively under the radar, which was good.
“It was probably not as big a moment back then as it would be now faced with the same set of circumstances.”
The Saints’ double draft delight came as the club was ushering in a new senior coach – two-time Adelaide premiership coach Malcolm Blight, whose tenure would not even last a full season the following year at Moorabbin.
“There was a lot of excitement around St Kilda at that time because Malcolm Blight had just been appointed as the new coach and they had recruited really heavily, like (Fraser) Gehrig, (Aaron) Hamill all of these guys were going to be going to the Saints,” Riewoldt said.
“Blighty was such a mythical figure and so revered, there was I guess that element of – intimidation is the wrong word – but awe, I think.
“I’m not sure I said much and Kosi I don’t think would have said much at all. It was just a pretty surreal experience.”
Back on the plane to Queensland later that night, Riewoldt celebrated his No.1 selection in the draft with a “couple of drinks at the airport” with his mum and before a low-key celebration at home.
Away from the spotlight of football-mad Melbourne, Riewoldt’s new status as the No.1 young AFL player in the land hadn’t attracted the same level of attention in the sunshine state.
“I got home and my sister was running around in a Saints’ jumper and a few of my mates were there,” Riewoldt said.
“Most of my school mates didn’t know I was going to get drafted. I think that worked in my favour.
“It was Queensland, so football 20 years ago was not what it is now.”
Returning to Melbourne to start his AFL career with the Saints a few weeks later, Riewoldt’s bid to make an immediate impact as the top draft pick was dealt a blow when he injured his knee in December.
He would have to wait until Round 15 in 2001 to make his AFL debut.
“I hurt my knee in the last session before Christmas, so I had surgery just prior to Christmas and then ended up missing I think six months,” the Fox Footy commentator said.
“Clearly I wanted to play in my first year, but a lot of that was out of my control in the end.
“Playing was the first achievement that I really had my sights on but I was forced to wait for that one, I think I ended up playing maybe the last six games of the year.
“Really, my first year was a bit of a blur. It was almost like the start of my second year was when I was a little bit more comfortable and had a clear run at it.”
Riewoldt, who would go on to captain St Kilda and sit second on the club’s all-time games list, said there was “no doubt” there was more pressure on him as the No.1 pick.
“The hype or the pressure on the No.1 pick, it almost grows exponentially as form doesn’t reflect the tag,” Riewoldt said.
“So I think if you get away to a good start then the fact that you are a No.1 pick doesn’t really get spoken about.
“It gets spoken about the more your struggle, which makes sense, but there is not a lot of upside I don’t think to being the No.1e pick because if you play well then it’s expected and if you don’t then you wear a lot of criticism.
“I think you need a bit of luck. I obviously did my (knee in my) first year and that probably increased the pressure a little bit, which was clearly out of my control.
“But there are things that you can (control) and I think it is important to understand that you do those as well as you possibly can and that’s where having a really strong mentor like Aaron (Hamill) was so beneficial.
“He taught me what it was to work hard and train hard and become a pro in those formative years. I credit a lot of my early success to Aaron.”
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