How Riewoldt might have marched on in (Age)

[one-eyed]

Makes a pleasant change to see another club get bagged for their draft choices and recruiting to our benefit.


How Riewoldt might have marched on in
Caroline Wilson
March 31, 2011

THE tantalising prospect of a Nick Riewoldt-Jack Riewoldt forward structure at St Kilda almost became a reality in the dramatic months at Moorabbin leading up to the 2006 national draft.

With the two cousins looking forward to lining up against each other at opposite ends of the MCG tomorrow night it is worth measuring how close Jack, the reigning Coleman medallist, came to becoming a Saint.

A prodigious teenaged talent playing his final season at Clarence, the younger Riewoldt would often turn up to Tasmanian state training in a St Kilda jumper borrowed from Nick. Whenever the Saints came to play in Launceston, Jack was never far from the team and often indulged in informal kick-to-kicks. The feeling among the coaches that year - which was to be Grant Thomas's last - was that Nick would have loved his cousin as a teammate and that he was at least in the mix.

In a week when the Saints' recruiting during the Ross Lyon era has been under the microscope, and with the benefit of hindsight, that 2006 draft has proved disappointing for the club. David Armitage was chosen at No. 9 with Danny Frawley's nephew James taken at No. 12 by Melbourne and Jack Riewoldt at No. 13 by Richmond. (The Saints' next choice Brad Howard at No. 27 has long gone). Saints supporters would be only too aware that the latter pair of players with the famous St Kilda surnames were All-Australian last season with Riewoldt winning the Tigers' best-and-fairest and Frawley runner-up at Melbourne. Both have played more than 60 AFL games while Armitage, who did not play in the 2010 finals series, is due to play his 30th.

''There wouldn't be a team in the AFL with two key defenders who could feel confident in manning those two Riewoldts,'' said the Saints long-serving captain Danny Frawley. ''With Nick playing up the ground and Jack in the goal square … what a prospect.'' And of his nephew? ''When James went to Melbourne I thought it was a good thing because he wouldn't have to worry about being compared. As it turns out he's probably going to end up a far better player than me.''

No one from the new or the old regime at Moorabbin can remember just how clearly Jack came into contention and the man who chose Armitage, recruiter John Beveridge, declined to discuss an opposition player this week.

The speculation from those who were there at the time was that Jack has exceeded expectations and that the two Riewoldts at one club could have placed untold pressure on both. It was also suggested that families at clubs such as the Shaws and the Clokes had not always worked.

But Matthew Armstrong, the academy coach for AFL Tasmania back then, disputes that Jack Riewoldt exceeded expectations. ''I knew he was going to be something special,'' said Armstrong, who still holds that role. ''I certainly believe he was one of the best young kids we'd seen in Tasmania. His work ethic was outstanding and he always had a footy in his hand and I remember playing him in the Tassie Devils as a 17-year-old and he looked comfortable. I had a lot of calls that year about him from a lot of clubs and I said to them what I'm telling you now. In my time he was the best kid I'd seen come through. And I remember him coming to training in a St Kilda jumper he'd got from Nick.''

The years between the decision to overlook a Riewoldt and a Frawley and the 2009 Andrew Lovett disaster (the club traded a first-round draft choice for him) have proved relatively ordinary in terms of young talent and it is true that Lyon, having shaken up his recruiting department that had a budget of $140,000 in 2006, postponed annual leave to play a more hands-on role in the lead-up to last year's draft.

John Peake has departed, along with list manager Matthew Drain, and Tony Elshaug has been appointed chief of recruiting. None of the Saints' first four 2010 draft choices - Jamie Cripps (No. 24), Sam Crocker (No. 43), Tom Ledger (No. 59) and Arryn Siposs (No. 75) - played last week despite solid form on the summer track, nor did Tom Lynch, the club's 2008 first choice.

''St Kilda's recruiting in recent years has cost them a premiership,'' said The Age columnist Robert Walls. ''They've gone for players to keep propping them up and some have proved handy for them but if St Kilda had been able to get a [Steele] Sidebottom or a [Dayne] Beams it could have made the difference. It's been two things - recruiting and the development of the young players - neither have been great.''

Danny Frawley pointed out the solid job Beveridge must have done in the years leading up to 2006. ''I don't want to take anything away from David Armitage who is trying to forge his own career.

''And who am I to talk? I arrived at Richmond and chose Aaron Fiora ahead of Matthew Pavlich. It proved very costly for Richmond and very costly for my coaching career.''

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/how-riewoldt-might-have-marched-on-in-20110330-1cgct.html

[wayne]

Makes a pleasant change to see another club get bagged for their draft choices and recruiting to our benefit.

FAIR DINKUM :Twisted Evil :Twisted Evil :Twisted Evil

Has most likely cost us two premierships already!

The Jack Riewoldt v's Armo one stings tho... IMO, Jack was a no brainer at the time, yet we drafted the Queenslander Armo ahead of him... This is not Armo bashing, who I believe is a handy player and will develop into more with more opportunity, but Jack will be the best goal kicker in the comp for the next 10 years...

Not selecting Riewoldt was and is a monumental **** UP

NO HINDSIGHT AT ALL, I would have drafted him and was hoping we would

As if placing our hopes on Kosi rediscovering his form from 2005 wasn't galling enough

Rolling Eyes

FAIR DINKUM

Saving the best till last!! 

I reckon if we had of approached the tiges at the start of 2010 and said we'd swap Kosi for Riewoldt, they would have at the very least considered it.

http://www.saintsational.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68550&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75

 

[10 FLAGS]

one of the clowns in there actually tries to placate his own disappointment by saying that the jury is still out on jack riewoldt and armitage. UMMMM NO MATE! The jury was selected, the court case has been heard,  the jury has delivered the verdict and everyones gone home lol.  

[mightytiges]

Makes a pleasant change to see another club get bagged for their draft choices and recruiting to our benefit.

FAIR DINKUM :Twisted Evil :Twisted Evil :Twisted Evil

Has most likely cost us two premierships already!

The Jack Riewoldt v's Armo one stings tho... IMO, Jack was a no brainer at the time, yet we drafted the Queenslander Armo ahead of him... This is not Armo bashing, who I believe is a handy player and will develop into more with more opportunity, but Jack will be the best goal kicker in the comp for the next 10 years...

Not selecting Riewoldt was and is a monumental **** UP

NO HINDSIGHT AT ALL, I would have drafted him and was hoping we would

As if placing our hopes on Kosi rediscovering his form from 2005 wasn't galling enough

Rolling Eyes

FAIR DINKUM

Saving the best till last!! 

I reckon if we had of approached the tiges at the start of 2010 and said we'd swap Kosi for Riewoldt, they would have at the very least considered it.

http://www.saintsational.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68550&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75

 

Brilliant finds wayne  

Maybe the Saints saw Jack play at Princess Park before the draft like I did. At the time he didn't do much but in hindsight he probably was just going through the motions knowing he was a certainty to be drafted. All I know is we took a risk that the Saints could have grabbed him by swapping our first round picks in the Polak trade (#8 for #13). Thankfully Jack was still around at #13 and the rest is history.

[Hellenic Tiger]

Now we need the media to play on the Armitage before Frawley and Riewoldt selection in the same way it was done monotonously with Tambling and Franklin.

Jack Riewoldt is a gun we all know that and I think St Kilda are throwing up internally just quietly.

[bojangles17]

one of the few Miller actually got right

[mightytiges]

Now we need the media to play on the Armitage before Frawley and Riewoldt selection in the same way it was done monotonously with Tambling and Franklin.

Jack Riewoldt is a gun we all know that and I think St Kilda are throwing up internally just quietly.

The media could really get stuck into St Kilda about their recruiting since 2004. They have lived off the core before then when they were cellar dwellars for about 4 years.

McEvoy (who may still end up a good ruckman in time) ahead of Rioli and Dangerfield
Trading a first round pick for Lovett who was sacked before playing a game.
Trading another first round pick for Fergus Watts who never played a game.
Trading for Fiora lol.
Picking Cain Ackland ahead of Mark LeCras

Once the current older generation is gone they are going to head south fast given how little quality youth is coming through their ranks.

[Infamy]

one of the few Miller actually got right

It was Jackson's pick.. as was JON

[one-eyed]

How Jack Riewoldt's dad spurned the Saints
Jon Ralph
Herald Sun
April 01, 2011

JACK Riewoldt could so easily have joined his cousin Nick at St Kilda, but not in the manner many believe.

While St Kilda overlooked Nick Riewoldt's younger cousin in the 2006 national draft, the fateful decision was made decades earlier.

And it turns out Jack's father Chris made that choice.

Chris Riewoldt was actually signed by St Kilda with an old form four contract.

One of four Riewoldt boys, he was just out of his late teens and playing for Hobart's Clarence Football Club.

Fate intervened and Chris Riewoldt never made the trip.

"In 1978 I signed under the old form four with St Kilda but it just never worked out for me. I had the opportunity to go, and I was doing my teaching degree here," he told the Herald Sun in 2008.

"I had been going for a year or two here but university wouldn't credit me there. I would have had to start again. By the time I finished a few years later they had lost interest and so had I."

Chris Riewoldt went on to become a Tasmanian Football League star.

He would play 298 games for Clarence and 30 for Tasmania.

Had he landed at St Kilda and played the requisite 100 games, Jack Riewoldt would have been a father-son candidate. In 2007 the club would have had to use only a third-round pick to secure him.

Chris cannot take all the credit for his son's ability - Jack is bred in the purple.

Grandparents Heinz and Helga arrived from Germany in 1950 and had four sons - Joe, Ray, Chris and Peter.

Joe is Nick's father, while Chris would marry Rodney Eade's first cousin Leslie.

Former AFL coach Robert Shaw coached Glenorchy to the 1984 flag and had no doubt Chris had AFL potential.

"He played in the ruck in the 1979 premiership for Clarence against Peter Hudson in his last game (in the TFL). It was one of the biggest upsets in the TFL, and on the back of 17-year-old Chris Riewoldt's ruck work," Shaw said.

"He wasn't a sublime kick but he was six foot five (195cm), and a big, mobile centre half-forward.

"He was just like Brent Crosswell - in big Tasmanian games, grand finals, his record was outstanding. He influenced three grand finals like no one else."

St Kilda overlooked Jack Riewoldt in favour of David Armitage in the 2006 national draft, but in reality the club didn't believe the young forward was worth a first-round pick.

But Richmond recruiter Francis Jackson was nervous, particularly given the family's link to the Saints.

"That was my first year, so Jack was my first ever pick," Jackson said this week.

"He was always the one for us . . . but I went to the footy a few times in Tasmania, not really watching Jack but just to see who else was there.

"It was a long wait for me, waiting for other clubs to pass on him, but I was pretty confident they would."

St Kilda recruiter John Beveridge declined to comment, but sources at the club said Jack hadn't shown enough to be a top-10 pick.

"We had Nick and Kosi (Justin Koschitzke) up and running and the key positions were strong. The focus was the midfield," he said.

"Certainly he (Jack) was looked at. Some people thought he was a fraction slow. It is a rare bloke who can take the contested marks he can, but back then it didn't appear he had that life in his legs."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/how-jack-riewoldts-dad-spurned-the-saints/story-e6frf9jf-1226031686705