AFL 2023: Richmond premiership hero Jack Riewoldt announces his retirement
Retiring Tigers hero Jack Riewoldt has revealed the moment he knew his time was up – and the cafe conversation that sparked Richmond’s remarkable premiership era.
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A deep conversation in a cafe in enemy territory has been credited with igniting Richmond’s stunning triple premiership era and creating lasting cultural change at the club.
Retiring Tigers star Jack Riewoldt says he is most proud of “creating a culture” that has been copied by other clubs and stemmed from a pre-season chat with fellow club champion and premiership captain Trent Cotchin.
He said the pair sat down at Essendon cafe St Rose at the end of 2016 and discussed the legacy they would leave at the club, with their shift in focus creating immediate results.
“I spoke to the guys about the legend of the St Rose cafe … Trent and I sat down and had coffee, and we spoke about legacy and what it looked like for us as older players even at that time,” Riewoldt said.
“(It was about) what we were going to do to create that 11th premiership for the likes of Daniel Rioli, who was in his second year at the time.
“Funnily enough, it happened in a whirlwind, everyone invested, we found the thing that connected our group together, which was storytelling … it turned around in a matter of five or six months.
“It all came together, and while we spoke about Daniel playing in the next premiership and being part of that next Richmond cup, we found ourselves smack bang in the middle of it.”
Addressing Richmond players, staff and reporters on Tuesday, Riewoldt became emotional when he described the importance of bowing out at the same time as Cotchin, with the duo to both play their final games against North Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.
“It only seems like yesterday I was sitting on the porch of his parents’ holiday house in Moama, having a couple of VBs with his old man and just having the times of our lives at 19 years of age,” he said.
“We’ve lived amazing lives over the period of time we’ve been at the football club … me and Trent are really excited about what the next period of our journey is.”
Riewoldt joked he knew the end of his playing days was nigh after trying to take a trademark jumping mark over a St Kilda opponent on Sunday.
“I tried to jump on Jack Sinclair on the weekend, and that was probably the moment I realised it was all over,” he said.
“I’ve gone from kneeing blokes in the back of the head or on the shoulders … I think I might have got him just above the tailbone.
“This week’s going to be an emotional cocktail really of happiness, sadness … there’s an element of grieving in there as well … ultimately, it will be the reflection on what is 17 years of lifetime memories.”
The three-time Coleman medallist and All-Australian said he was “intrigued” by the Tigers’ potential to rise rapidly, comparing this year’s disappointing campaign to the 2016 season when they finished 13th before going on to win the flag the next year.
“We’ve got some amazing talent in the room, talent we haven’t seen at AFL level yet that I can’t wait to see,” he said.
“We’ve got some great guys to come through who need to grab the leadership mantle, and I’m looking forward to being on the other side of that fence and experiencing that journey through a new lens.”
Tigers premiership hero calls time on decorated career
– Jon Ralph
Richmond’s premiership hero Jack Riewoldt has decided to retire, bringing to an end one of the club’s most decorated careers.
The triple premiership hero and three-time Coleman Medallist was Richmond’s leading goalkicker 11 times as well as a two-time Jack Dyer Medallist.
Riewoldt is set to tell teammates on Tuesday morning that he will finish up this season despite openly considering the possibility in recent weeks of playing on for one final year.
The star Tigers has kicked 786 goals in his 346 games for Richmond and sits 13th on the AFL’s goal tally, likely to finish up just short of club legend Matthew Richardson (exactly 800 career goals).
Richmond had been hopeful Riewoldt might ponder playing on given the club’s lack of key forwards and uncertainty over Tom Lynch’s durability after recent hamstring and foot issues.
But in the end he decided to join his friend and premiership captain Trent Cotchin in retirement this year ahead of an MCG farewell against North Melbourne on Saturday.
He was also a larger-than-life personality whose off-field highlights included celebrating the club’s 2017 premiership with rock band The Killers on stage at the MCG.
A brash and bold young player who was handed a key role in the club’s forward line as Terry Wallace moved club legend Richardson onto a wing, Riewoldt took time to mature.
But by the end of his career he had evolved into a footy statesman who will join Fox Footy in 2024 as well as building his leadership company and outside interests.
Alongside captain Cotchin, coach Damien Hardwick and fellow vice-captain Alex Rance, Riewoldt formed a powerful quartet who drove cultural change at the Tigers despite a trio of elimination finals defeats from 2013-2015.
As the Tigers embraced mindfulness and a more authentic leadership approach they roared to the drought-breaking 2017 premiership against Adelaide_ breaking a 37-year premiership drought – with Riewoldt celebrating in fine style.
The Tigers added two more premierships, with Riewoldt kicking five goals in the 2019 demolition of GWS before a two-goal performance in the Gabba Grand Final of 2020 against Geelong.
As a young impulsive Tiger Riewoldt famously put a media ban on himself after negative media coverage.
He also jumped a Punt Road fence to escape waiting reporters after suggesting the club had tried and failed to replicate Hawthorn’s game style, with Hardwick saying: “We caught up with him this morning and removed his foot from his mouth and my foot from his arse”.
As one of the AFL’s first players removed from a game through the concussion protocol he famously crawled back up the MCG stairs as he argued his case to be allowed back into a game.
But by the end of his 17-season career those quirky moments were a footnote in one of footy’s future Hall of Fame careers given his performances in so many big on field moments.
Riewoldt has been at the forefront of fundraising for the Maddie’s Match game alongside Nick Riewoldt after cousin Maddie lost her battle with aplastic anaemia in early 2015.
As a proud Tasmanian Riewoldt could play a key role as a coach or ambassador for the new 19th franchise in coming seasons if the Tasmanian government approves a new stadium which would pave the way for an AFL team.
Riewoldt has strongly advocated the Tasmanian side after being raised in the Hobart suburb of Bellerive and making his senior debut for Clarence before being selected at pick 13 by the Tigers in the 2006 national draft.
End for Richmond legend to come sooner than expected
– Glenn McFarlane
Triple premiership captain Trent Cotchin is set to play his 306th – and final game – for Richmond on Saturday afternoon with the Tiger Army to be given one last chance to publicly farewell one of their favourite sons.
It is understood Cotchin, 33, will play one last match in yellow and black, against North Melbourne at the MCG, and won’t travel to Adelaide for the final round clash against Port Adelaide in Round 24.
Cotchin, who announced last Thursday that he will retire from AFL football at the end of the season, has been battling a recent calf niggle that has kept him out of the team since the Round 20 clash with Melbourne.
There had initially been some doubt whether Cotchin would overcome his issue in time to play a farewell game.
But it is understood the popular Tiger is determined to don his trademark No. 9 jumper on one more occasion and will do so on Saturday, as long as he gets through training this week.
It is fitting Cotchin’s last game will come at the MCG, the ground where he has played some of the biggest games of his 16-season career that helped to define the Tigers’ modern era.
He booted a goal with his first kick in AFL football in Round 8, 2008 at the MCG and it was the venue of two of the three premierships he captained in (2017 and 2019).
His third flag came at the Gabba in the Covid-interrupted 2020 season.
If the Tigers beat North Melbourne on Saturday, it will also be Cotchin’s 100th win at the home of football from the 170 games he will have played at the Tigers’ home venue.
Cotchin’s wife Brooke posted a heartwarming Instagram video on Monday night of the former Richmond skipper telling his three kids last week that he was going to retire the following day.
In the video, Cotchin tells them: “I’ll play one more game.”
Cotchin will leave the game as one of the most influential players in the history of the Richmond Football Club, as a player who won a Brownlow Medal and three Jack Dyer Medals, and as the only triple premiership captain in the club’s history.
With the Tigers almost certainly out of the finals frame now after two successive losses, Richmond is hoping its fans will turn out in force for Cotchin’s farewell game at 1.45pm on Saturday as a tribute to a player who changed the direction of his football club.
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Originally published as AFL 2023: Richmond premiership hero Jack Riewoldt announces his retirement
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