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