St Kilda should give draftee Max King famous No.12 worn by Nick Riewoldt
St Kilda can’t keep Nick Riewoldt’s famous No.12 jumper in the closet forever. And who better to inherit it than a powerful spearhead and lifelong St Kilda fan, writes Jay Clark.
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St Kilda should give Nick Riewoldt’s famous No.12 jumper to new spearhead Max King.
One of St Kilda’s greatest players, Riewoldt’s jumper has been in mothballs since the champion centre half-forward retired at the end of 2017.
But what an honour it would be if Riewoldt and the club offered it up to the club’s newest big man and lifelong St Kilda fan, King.
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The 204cm goalkicker idolized Riewoldt growing up and, although they are yet to meet, Riewoldt will clearly take a keen interest in the No.4 draft pick.
King could learn so much from the six-time best-and-fairest winner, so why not give him his jumper as well? The baton has to be passed at some point.
If King and Riewoldt are happy with it, then it’s perfect. St Kilda fans will surely love seeing the No.12 striding back out from the goalsquare and slotting majors again.
Some may say it would only add extra pressure on King, but really it should be seen as a compliment.
And Riewoldt won’t want his guernsey stuck in the cupboard forever.
Shaun Atley wears Wayne Carey’s No.18 at North Melbourne, and Geelong gave Gary Ablett Sr’s No.5 to Nakia Cockatoo.
The romance of it all should go on, so the kids who wear Riewoldt’s No.12 can enjoy that excitement of seeing it back out there.
King is a serious talent and could have gone No.1 in last week’s national draft if he didn’t suffer a knee reconstruction.
We think he will be a fine player, from everything we saw pre-knee reconstruction. He has been likened to Tom Lynch and Joe Daniher because of his speed, agility and skyscraping marking power.
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