Richmond finals chances: Jack Riewoldt AFL 360, Tiger says Richmond won’t play like it did against St Kilda again, questions doubtersJuly 12, 2017
Max Laughton
FOX SPORTSJACK Riewoldt says Richmond won’t play at the poor level it produced against St Kilda again this season, and has questioned those doubting the team based off the one game.
The Tigers were thumped on Saturday night, trailing by 82 points at halftime having kicked just one goal.
It came just a week after an impressive win on the road against a fellow contender in Port Adelaide, leading some to count Richmond out.
But Riewoldt told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 he still has faith in his Tigers, as they have played “some pretty good footy” this year.
“We’re fairly confident that we won’t (play at that level again),” he said.
“It’s interesting to hear you say that people question one bad loss. There was media commentary around the game on Saturday night that we were premiership favourites.
“How can a body of work over two hours - granted it was a really poor body of work - change minds so much?
“It certainly hasn’t changed mine. It hasn’t changed the belief that I have in this group going forward.”
Both he and fellow panellist, Melbourne’s Jordan Lewis, agreed that St Kilda produced the best football they had seen all year in the first half.
“And we were probably as poor as any side has put up in a first half performance. It was really disappointing but it’s not going to define us,” Riewoldt said.
“We’ve played some great footy this year and we came off a pretty good win over at Port Adelaide. Unfortunately we came up against a side that just seemed to get it all right on the night.”
“We’ll take some learnings from it, but we’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water. We’ve played some pretty good footy this year.”
The Tigers did steady in the second half, cutting the margin to a slightly better 67 points at the final siren.
But after one of their worst first half performances in years, Riewoldt said the feeling in the rooms for both clubs was a strange one.
“Speaking with Nick post the game, he said it was a weird feeling inside the Saints’ rooms,” he said.
“It was righty-o, we’ve got to stay on track here to get the victory and for us it was well, let’s go down swinging and just try something different.
“It was a really disappointing loss, don’t get me wrong, but we think we can address it pretty quick smart and get back on the horse.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jack-riewoldt-says-richmond-wont-play-like-it-did-against-st-kilda-again-questions-doubters-after-big-loss/news-story/93615fc41f2da88416078f107a5eeee0