Riewoldt sounds Tigers warning to rivalsRebecca Williams
Sunday Herald Sun
13 October 2019Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt is confident the Tigers won’t have any trouble “maintaining the rage” in their premiership defence next season.
While stopping short of declaring the team could claim back-to-back premierships, Riewoldt had no doubt the Tigers could get better in 2020 in an ominous warning to their AFL rivals.
Riewoldt said the impending return of star defender Alex Rance, who missed the premiership win after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in Round 1, was a weapon in waiting.
“I think that we will definitely get better as a team next year, which is a really exciting prospect for us,” Riewoldt said.
“We have got arguably one of the greatest defenders (Rance) of all-time coming back in and he is certainly hungry at the moment to perform and get back into the side.
“It’s about maintaining the rage and maintaining the hunger, which I don’t think we’ll have any trouble doing.
“We’ve been in this position before where we’ve been the champs and unfortunately we couldn’t back it up, it’s really hard to go back-to-back. It’s a really tough thing to do.
“But it’s about continuing to try to do the little things and get going.”
After their flag win in 2017, the Tigers fell one step short of making the Grand Final the following year when they suffered a preliminary final loss to Collingwood.
Riewoldt expected the Tigers to be in strong shape for the start of their pre-season campaign.
“We have got through pretty unscathed, we’ve got a few little minor operations, obviously our one major one is Jack Graham with a shoulder reconstruction,” Riewoldt said.
“But other than that we are pretty unscathed so hopefully we can go into the pre-season pretty full strength and I don’t reckon Jack will be too far behind that as well.
“It’s so important to set yourselves up with a good pre-season for the season so that’s exciting for us.”
Riewoldt said he was planning a low-key off-season to recharge for 2020.
“I’ll be spending a lot of time at home,” he said. “I’ll go home to Tassie for a couple of weeks, which I’m excited about and get ready for season 2020.”
FLAG TIGER AND MOTOR STAR UNITE FOR GRAND FINALSRiewoldt has climbed his sporting Everest twice the past three years and now he’s hoping to watch his good mate Scott McLaughlin do the same.
Riewoldt is at Bathurst to support his close friend’s bid to claim a maiden Bathurst crown just weeks after celebrating his second premiership win with the Tigers.
Supercars series leader McLaughlin was at the MCG to witness Riewoldt’s flag triumph and now the Tiger is returning the favour at a bucket-list event.
“I am hoping I am going to be in a bit of a better state that what he was. We’re just supporting each other in our endeavours and sports and he has started the weekend really well,” Riewoldt said.
“He has started the weekend really well … he is in a great mindset, he has given himself a great opportunity and Alex hisco-driver’s driving really well, too, from what we’ve seen.
“I hope he’s up there and he’s got a chance late in the race. It goes for a long time and a lot of things can happen, it’s a bit different to AFL footy.
“If he’s in there with a chance with 15-20 laps to go then I’ll be backing him in.”
Riewoldt and McLaughlin have forged a close friendship, with the pair sharing the same high-performance mindfulness coach and a sporting podcast, Balls and Bumpers.
The Richmond forward put McLaughlin in touch with Emma Murray, who McLaughlin had credited with helping him keep focused on the way to the 2018 Supercars championship.
“Our connection through Emma Murray, our mindfulness coach, is really strong and she has got him in a great spot and he has got himself in a great spot,” Riewoldt said.
“For him, it’s just (about) not putting too much emphasis on the actual outcome just enjoying the race and what it is and sitting back and having fun.
“I suppose and for me (the message is) really just enjoying the moment and being an event like this, not many people get to drive around this great track at 300km/h.”
Riewoldt is enjoying the full Bathurst experience, staying in a motor home at the track with his father and younger brother along for experience as well.
McLaughlin said it was great to have Riewoldt at Bathurst to support him.
“It was an amazing day (the AFL Grand Final) and now for him to come up and support me in effectively my Grand Final it’s really cool,” McLaughlin said.
“You could see the euphoria those boys were going through, especially the after-party that night.
“I was thinking to myself ‘far out, it would be cool if I could replicate the same sort of thing’.
“It’s a bucket list item for him as well even before he met me. So really cool for him to be involved. He will be right in the team in the inner sanctum like I was and hopefully he enjoys it.”
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/jack-riewoldt-confident-richmond-will-maintain-its-hunger-as-it-chases-backtoback-premierships/news-story/1e1adbd18692d9a3fd5e7fa171cea5fb
