Jack Riewoldt, reflects on Richmond’s sliding doors momentADAM SMITH
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
MERCURY
3:06PM OCTOBER 28, 2020A third AFL premiership in four years has thrust Richmond into the greatest team discussion but Jack Riewoldt will never forget the “low point” of the 2016 season.
The Tigers confirmed their status as the powerhouse of the competition by defeating Geelong last Saturday night, fulfilling chief executive Brendon Gale’s lofty ambitions set a decade ago.
And while basking in the achievement, Tasmanian Riewoldt never has to look too far to be reminded how it could have all been a different sliding doors moment.
After the 2016 campaign, in which Richmond finished 13th with a 8-14 record — having dropped six straight games from rounds 2-7 and ending the year with a 113-point drubbing from Sydney — the future of coach Damien Hardwick and a host of players was clouded.
But the club attached itself to a brand from early 2017, one which has swept them firmly into the midst of a dynasty.
“It is always good to reflect and Trent (Cotchin) and I actually probably talk about it at length a bit really and reminisce where we have come from,” Riewoldt told the Tassie Sport Lounge podcast.
“Probably four years, four and a half years ago post 2016 was the real low point for a lot of people at the club.
“The jungle drums were beating, unfairly I think, on ‘Dimma’ (Hardwick) and his coaching role at the club all through the back-end of 2016 right through to 2017.
“There were a few people out there in media land who were hoping for blood in the water and really circling for him.
“We started 2017 with a bang, we had a bit of a different game plan and it succeeded and it set us up. It could have easily gone the other way and we lost the first five and the story would be a lot different.
“We found something that worked for us, we attached ourselves to it and here we are four years later, three premierships down and arguably one of the best teams to have played in the modern era.
“It is one hell of a story, but it has been one hell of a ride as well.”
The 2020 season has been like no other in AFL history, unfolding in the midst of a pandemic which saw all Victorian clubs based in hubs in Queensland from early July.
Coupled with a reduced, 18-round home and away season it left some critics questioning whether the premiership would come with an asterisk, but Riewoldt has no doubt which of his three flags he savours the most.
“It’s been very different, but it has also been extremely satisfying.
“Clearly winning the premiership in probably the trickiest year to get through and navigate has been probably been out of the three I have been involved in, certainly the most satisfying.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/jack-riewoldt-reflects-on-richmonds-sliding-doors-moment/news-story/6d889005632d2b811f13671e87fd62a6
