Richmond Tiger Jack Riewoldt defends captain Trent Cotchin, teammates after close lossSarah Olle
Foxsports
7 April 2016OUTSPOKEN Tiger Jack Riewoldt has defended his teammates and his besieged captain Trent Cotchin after Richmond’s one-point loss to Collingwood on Friday night.
Riewoldt said the perception that Richmond continued to lose close games, and choke in clutch moments, was unfounded.
While he conceded the team had failed when it counted last week, he said the blame was collective. There was no individual who won or lost the game.
“I am sick and tired hearing about Trent’s leadership,” Riewoldt told AFL 360 on Tuesday evening.
“Unfairly, in my opinion, it all gets lumped on to Trent.
“Trent is the captain, but there is a leadership group, and then there’s me and there’s other senior players that need to fulfil their roles at the end of games like that, that are tight.”
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley identified Riewoldt as one of the players who sensed the importance of Darcy Moore’s kick in the dying seconds of the match. He ran the length of the ground and positioned himself in the opposing goal square, ready to make an impact.
Other players, Buckley alleged, shirked the responsibility.
But Riewoldt insisted Cotchin was not one of them.
“It isn’t all lumped on to one bloke,” he said.
“We are 22 players that represent our jumper ... and unfortunately the 18 players that were on the ground in those final three to four minutes didn’t fulfil their roles.
“You learn lessons and they’re harsh lessons, they’re lessons that have cost us four points.”
Since the Tigers’ heartbreaking loss, a dialogue has emerged regarding the team’s propensity to choke.
Just like Melbourne fans foreboded the seemingly imminent loss to Essendon, Richmond fans, it was said, expected their team to stumble.
But Riewoldt refuted that statement, saying his side had stood up more often than not when it counted.
“If you went over the wins and losses in close games over the last two years — and probably the one that sticks in your mind is the Gold Coast one, where Karmichael Hunt kicked a goal after the siren — since then we’ve won a lot of close games,” Riewoldt said.
“We’ve won more close games considerably more than we’ve lost. It just stands out because we’re Richmond, people have a perception about us. In my opinion it’s wrong.
“As hard as it is, we’ve got to get over it as soon as we can and address the issues as we do on a Monday because there’s no point sulking on past the Monday review.
“It just ruins your mindset for the week coming up against Adelaide, a side that played some pretty good footy on the weekend and pretty well the week before.”
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/richmond-tiger-jack-riewoldt-defends-captain-trent-cotchin-teammates-after-close-loss/news-story/47183d3b5c1800cdcdc51d3ffdb477b3
