AFL round 9: Tom Hawkins and Jack Riewoldt trade guernseys post game
Jack Riewoldt has revealed the inside story of how his jumper swap with Tom Hawkins came to be and what it means for the future of the veteran forwards.
Richmond veteran Jack Riewoldt has revealed he forged a pre-game pact to swap jumpers with Geelong great Tom Hawkins following Friday night’s clash at the MCG, conceding it could be the last time the two rivals play against each other.
In a special postscript between two of the game’s great modern forwards who have collectively won six flags, played 670 games and kicked 1529 goals, Riewoldt and Hawkins took off their game-day jumpers, signed them and handed them over after the Tigers’ 24-point victory.
It gave rise to speculation that this could be Riewoldt’s - and potentially Hawkin’s - final season, with the Richmond forward conceding on Saturday it could be the case for him.
Asked if this could be his last season, Riewoldt said on 3AW: “That (is) possibly the case, neither of us is a spring chicken. We are both 34, and (we are) both out of the 2006 draft’.
“We have a lot of respect for each other. We have a great friendship. We have worked together on TV now and we have developed a really good chemistry.
“We actually talked about it (the jumper swap) during the week and thought ‘righto, let’s swap jumpers after the game’. The hardest people to get these sorts of things passed are the property stewards. It’s like you are taking a first-born (child) when you ask to swap a jumper.”
Riewoldt said his AFL career had run parallel to Hawkins since they were taken in the 2006 national draft — with Jack being taken at pick 13, and Tom as a father son at 41.
Riewoldt’s 334 games and 771 goals almost mirrors Hawkins’ 336 games and 758 goals, with each of them having played in three flags, and each having been their club’s leading goalkicker in 11 of their 17 seasons.
“I posted that photo (of the jumper swap) to social media and I had to nearly put a graphic warning my Tasmanian tan there and how bright I was looking,” Riewoldt said on 3AW.
“(It’s) a bit different to Hawk who had the beautiful olive skin.”
Riewoldt, who is expected to call it quits after this season, said he wanted to play as many games as he could this year, but expected to be rested at some stage post the round 15 bye.
Hawkins is more likely to play on for another season.
“There may be something on the horizon (a rest), but when you know you are coming towards the end of your career, you saviour every single game,” Riewoldt said.
“I always put my hand up to play. Sometimes it is more the fitness staff, not the coaching staff telling me to have a week off. I think management works for older guys, and a case in point with Trent (Cotchin) with the way he played (on Friday night).
“At some point again there will be time for me to have a rest, and potentially have a week off. We have a late bye as well. It is at round 15 and in all likelihood we probably won’t see Tom Lynch before that.
“There is certainly a role I have to play more so now that he is not playing.”
The Riewoldt-Hawkins jumper swap was one of the most touching moments of the season so far.
Players used to swap jumpers following grand finals, which led to the bizarre moment when St Kilda’s Darrel Baldock wore a Collingwood jumper when he held aloft the Saints’ sole premiership cup in 1966.
But after that tradition ended, there have been a number of more recent swaps in home and away matches.
Essendon’s James Hird and North Melbourne’s Glenn Archer famously swapped guernseys in their final seasons in 2007.
Some of the other more recent moments included Eddie Betts swapping jumpers with young gun Izak Rankine in 2020; Bryce Gibbs doing the same with his former teammate Bryce Gibbs in 2020; while a young Cam Guthrie asked Chris Judd to swap in a game in 2015, which ended up being the Carlton star’s last season.
HAWKINS, RIEWOLDT MOMENT SPARKS RETIREMENT TALK
It was a beautiful moment that pointed towards the end of a remarkable journey for at least one of the game’s modern day stars.
Tom Hawkins and Jack Riewoldt met in the middle of the MCG after the Tigers recorded a 24-point win over the Cats.
It’s perhaps the final time they’ll play against one another, as the 34-year-olds contemplate retirement at the end of the season.
The two superstars traded guernseys and posed for photos, as commentators sung their praises on the Channel 7 broadcast.
Two of the modern-day greats give each other one hell of a gift!
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) May 12, 2023
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“Two hall of famers right there, they go straight in when they’re eligible. They could both end up with over 800 goals,” Richmond champion Matthew Richardson said.
The guernsey swap also prompted Melbourne great Garry Lyon to touch on the retirement plans of the Tiger and Cat on Fox Footy.
“The swapping of the jumpers was an interesting one” Lyon said.
“They were here on AFL 360 together during the week, so maybe they hatched that plan during the week.
“I was more interested in (if) one of them is going to retire.”
Riewoldt and Hawkins have been brilliant power forwards over the last decade and a half.
In recent years they have been aided by big recruits Tom Lynch and Jeremy Cameron, who are both capable of holding down the fort after the two veterans retire.
Just when that will be remains to be seen, but based on Friday night’s evidence you’d think the end is nigh.
TIGERS’ DEFIANT RESPONSE TO CRITICS IN MASSIVE BOILOVER
Jay Clark
Richmond was adamant it wasn’t giving up on the season.
Amid calls to play the youngsters and criticism of its trade moves, the Tigers were staring down the barrel of a wasted season heading into Friday night’s clash against the premiership favourite.
The popular opinion was the premiership dynasty was over at Punt Rd.
A transition year, it was dubbed.
But with their backs to the wall, Damien Hardwick’s men knocked off the reigning premier at the MCG with a vintage performance to show their remains a faint pulse in their September aspirations.
And veteran Trent Cotchin, whose place in the team was starting to be questioned as he heads towards the 300-game milestone, provided the classy finish the Tigers have desperately lacked in the forward half this year snaring three goals as Richmond ran out 24-point winners.
With a big scalp now under their belts, Richmond will attempt to build some momentum throughout a softer part of the draw as the Tigers prepare to meet Essendon (MCG), Port Adelaide (MCG), GWS Giants (GS) and Fremantle (OS).
Tr3nt!#AFLTigersCatspic.twitter.com/v8M1JOeLFq
— AFL (@AFL) May 12, 2023
Clearly, the Cats were missing some of their most important players including seven premiership superstars from last year’s flag, including Patrick Dangerfield, Sam De Koning and Brad Close.
But Nathan Broad did one of the best defensive jobs of the year to restrict Jeremy Cameron to one goal and the Tigers’ trademark intercept game across half back returned in full force and Liam Baker and Daniel Rioli starred on the counter attack.
Richmond kicked six of their first eight goals from Geelong turnovers as some sloppy Cats’ errors were proven costly without some of their best players.
And Hardwick’s men pulled the victory off despite copping a heavy defeat in the clearance battle. But it’s never been a strength of Richmond’s.
But what the senior coach will love was the tackle pressure, the return of the quick forward handball, and some of the polish in attack.
That's class from Isaac Smith!#AFLTigersCatspic.twitter.com/QoOVnUf6Gx
— AFL (@AFL) May 12, 2023
The question will be asked; can they back it up against the top teams at full strength? But Hardwick will say why not.
Even when the pressure built in recent weeks, the coach’s faith never wobbled. Their top-line stars remain matchwinners. The depth is the query.
They were good against Melbourne for three quarters on Anzac Day eve.
Geelong remained in the hunt down by 18 points at the last change but Dustin Martin slotted his second major from 45m out on a 45 degree angle to seal the win early in the last.
Martin finished with four majors with stints in the midfield alongside Shai Bolton, while Cotchin had some huge moments including his third goal spinning out of traffic with a signature baulk and sidestep.
Cotchin needs five more games to play 300 – currently slated to come against St Kilda at the MCG in Round 14.
The critics will suggest the Cats were on their knees on Friday night, in a sense, with so many injuries.
But Richmond has also been hard-hit in the same department this year losing ruckman Toby Nankervis and Tom Lynch, and on Friday night star midfielder Jacob Hopper was subbed out with a calf injury.
Rioli was another who copped a left ankle injury, but impressively toughed it out.
If Tim Taranto is leading the Tigers’ best and fairest this year Rioli is not far behind.
The Tigers fans, as expected, booed Geelong star Tom Stewart for his hit on Dion Prestia last year, which earned Stewart a four-match ban.
Stewart said this week he knew it was coming and although the jeers rang out every time he touched the Sherrin it hardly fazed the four-time All-Australian.
SCOREBOARD
TIGERS 6.0, 8.3, 11.5, 16.6 (102)
CATS 2.7, 5.11, 7.11, 11.12 (78)
RONNY LERNER’S BEST
Tigers: Martin, D.Rioli, Broad, Short, Balta, Cotchin, Taranto.
Cats: Duncan, Stewart, Holmes, Miers, Cameron, Ratugolea.
GOALS
Tigers: Martin 4, Cotchin 3, Mansell 2, Riewoldt 2, Graham, D.Rioli, Prestia, Bolton, Clarke. Cats: Hawkins 3, O.Henry 2, Smith, Simpson, Duncan, Cameron, Bruhn, Blicavs.
INJURIES Tigers: Hopper (left calf). Cats: Nil.
UMPIRES Rosebury, Howorth, Gianfagna, Rodger
VENUE MCG
CROWD 58,141
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LERNER’S VOTES
3 Dustin Martin (Rich)
2 Daniel Rioli (Rich)
1 Nathan Broad (Rich)
‘Hard ball’: Dimma’s call on free agent after stopping Jezza
— Ronny Lerner
After a horror start to the season, Richmond are starting to feel their “heartbeat come back” after recording back-to-back wins for the first time this year, according to coach Damien Hardwick.
The latest of those triumphs was the best of the Tigers’ three victories so far in 2023, a comprehensive win over reigning premiers Geelong at the MCG on Friday night.
The result saw Richmond move to 3.5 wins after nine games, and after losing five matches in a row between rounds three and seven, they are just four points outside of the top eight heading into the weekend.
“I think I certainly have got a lot of belief (in the players) and I think the playing group are starting to feel that little heartbeat come back,” Hardwick said post-match.
“It looked Richmond-like - dirty goals, the way we got the ball to ground, and the way they charged in.”
Hardwick was particularly pleased with a piece of play in the final term when four Tigers gang-tackled Geelong’s Ollie Henry in the goal square, depriving him the chance to kick a major.
“The ball was on the goal line, there’s just bodies flying everywhere – that’s a Richmond game, that’s what the fabric of our footy club has been built on for a number of years and we’re starting to see that come back in our playing group,” Hardwick said.
“The most important thing is hopefully our players are starting to understand the belief that we (coaches) have got in them because I think we’ve got a wonderful group of young men that will continue to challenge sides along the way, we’re going to have some bumps in the road, but more importantly I think they’re starting to understand what they could possibly do.
“I was just proud of our footy club overall. We’ve been through some adversity ... we asked some guys to play foreign roles and they’ve stepped up and they’ve executed, so that’s a really pleasing thing.”
Two players in particular who played their roles magnificently were key backs Nathan Broad and Noah Balta who got the better of Geelong superstars Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins respectively.
“Noah was incredible, some of the things he does in the contest, just incredible,” Hardwick said.
“Those two guys (Balta and Hawkins), you look at them, they’re big, strong men and the battles that they have were incredible.
“And I thought ‘Broady’ did a wonderful job on Cameron and, it’s funny, whilst in our four walls he’s really highly regarded, he probably doesn’t get the respect outside that.
“But the four games he’s missed, as harsh as it (the sling tackle on Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell which led to Broad’s four-game ban) was, were crucial.
“All those sort of players that he generally takes, they were hurting us so we’re really pleased that he’s back in the side and starting to understand how important he his.”
Broad comes out of contract at the end of the season.
“He’s playing hard ball, I suppose. We won’t answer his manager’s call this week, he’ll be wanting too much money,” Hardwick joked.
The win came at a cost for the Tigers with star midfielder Jacob Hopper set to miss “some time” due to a calf injury he suffered which forced him to be subbed out in the third quarter, although Hardwick was hopeful it wasn’t serious. The former Giant will get scans on Saturday.
But in some better news for Richmond, No.1 ruckman Toby Nankervis was rated a “small chance” to take on Essendon next week in the Dreamtime game, while Daniel Rioli, one of Richmond’s best against Geelong, was expected to line up next week too after hurting his ankle.
“It’s Indigenous round this week so he might be sleeping over at the club, icing everything I think to get himself up for it so he won’t miss,” Hardwick said of Rioli.
Scott has deja vu of successful 2022 run
— Josh Barnes
Geelong coach Chris Scott says an identical win-loss record “does just feel so similar” to last season’s premiership journey.
The Cats dropped to 5-4 after being overrun by Richmond on Friday night, sitting in exactly the same position as they were 12 months ago, when Geelong began a 16-game winning streak that culminated in a flag.
With almost half of their first-choice side sidelined this week, Scott bemoaned a lack of experience when it counted against the Tigers but remains bullish about his team’s back-to-back ambitions.
“It does just feel so similar and that doesn’t mean that it is going to play out the same way,” he said.
“We had every intention last year as we did this year of managing our players through the season and we have had virtually no opportunity to do that because it has been managed for us through injury.
“We are going to have to improve a lot to go on a run like we did last year but there is a lot of room for optimism I think in the improvement we have in us.”
Geelong appears set to start clearing the injury list ahead of a trip to face Fremantle next weekend, with Tyson Stengle (broken arm) and Brad Close (suspension) likely to return.
Scott said defender Jack Henry (foot) was in the frame, while Patrick Dangerfield (hamstring) likely won’t play but that is only because the Cats are taking a cautious route with his recovery.
Scott didn’t have any doubt the inexperienced new faces played a factor in the loss to Richmond.
“The difference between your really important players and the next guy coming in is huge, that is just logical,” he said.
The Cats were victim to two disputed umpiring decisions in nearly identical spots on the MCG in the second and fourth quarters, when Tom Stewart was pinged for holding Rhyan Mansell and Mark O’Connor appeared to be pushed by Dustin Martin.
Scott said he didn’t agree with either of those decisions, which both led directly to Richmond goals.
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