Jack Riewoldt says Richmond tried to copy Hawthorn’s game planRebecca Williams
Herald-Sun
May 21, 2014 2:28PMRICHMOND spearhead Jack Riewoldt has questioned the Tigers game plan and blamed a collective lack of confidence for a horror start to the season.
Riewoldt says his own form and that of most of his teammates has not been up to standard this year, but has backed the Tigers to turn their fortunes around.
The dual Coleman Medallist said a Hawthorn-style short-kicking game style hadn’t worked at Tigerland.
“Unfortunately, we went one way with our game, and the game went the other way really,” Riewoldt said.
“We probably tried to copy Hawthorn a little bit too much with our kicking style.
“We probably need to rely a little bit more on natural progression, which I think we’ll get back to, actually I know we’ll get back to.
“You try new things and unfortunately you learn from your mistakes. We’ve learned from it as a playing group, as a coaching group and as a football club as a whole.”
The spotlight on the Tigers intensified after last week’s 17-point loss to Melbourne at the MCG, which saw the side slump to 16th on the ladder with a 2-6 record.
Riewoldt said the Tigers, who travel to Sydney to take on the 17th-placed Giants this weekend, just needed to build confidence and momentum.
“I certainly find it frustrating that we’re not winning. It’s not through lack of effort and it’s not through lack of trying new things,’’ Riewoldt said.
“We’ve got a lot of guys at the moment who are just lacking confidence.
“The two biggest things in AFL footy, I reckon, that lead to a successful side are momentum and confidence.
Jack Riewoldt admits he isn’t performing to expectations this year. Source: News Corp Australia
“At the moment, we don’t have any momentum and there are a lot of guys that are down on self-confidence.
“We need to find the way to get that momentum back to get our season up and rolling.
“I fully believe in the group, the coaching staff, the administration and every single person who is inside the four walls of the Richmond Football Club and that it will happen sooner rather than later.’’
Riewoldt, who has kicked 17 goals this season, took responsibility for his own performances, but said only a handful of players at the club were playing up to expectations.
“Re: my form, I’m not playing as great as I have done in the past,’’ Riewoldt said.
“But I think we are all sort of shooting each other in the foot, none of us are playing well and only three or four of us are playing up to standard for this season.
“It just has a flow-on effect for everyone, really.
“We need to get confidence in individuals, we need to get confidence in ourselves and ultimately that will lead to team confidence and more success.’’
Riewoldt admitted he could have handled the media ban he imposed on himself at the start of the season differently.
“It’s a weird one and I look back on it and you learn from your mistakes. It’s something that I probably wouldn’t have worded it the way that I did,’’ Riewoldt said.
“But I’m still just going to be taking a step back and doing more sort of club media, I’m really enjoying doing that. But the other stuff, I’ll let other people do that. I’m just trying to let my footy to do the talking at the moment.
“Every single ounce of my energy and my focus is going into getting this football club back to where it deserves to be and where we were last year.’’
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/jack-riewoldt-says-richmond-tried-to-copy-hawthorns-game-plan/story-fndv8t7m-1226925978732
