Jack Riewoldt says it would be great to see Jeremy Cameron win the Coleman Medal this season By Bruce Matthews
From: Herald Sun
August 13, 2013 11:45AMCOLEMAN Medalist Jack Riewoldt has nominated an exciting, emerging talent as his preference to win the goalkicking award this season.
Riewoldt reckons it would be great for GWS Giants' young gun Jeremy Cameron to top the AFL goalkicking list while he concentrates on more important issues in September.
"I'd like to see Jeremy Cameron win the Coleman this year. He's probably my favourite player at the moment in the competition,'' Riewoldt said on Tuesday.
"The first time I won it in 2010, obviously, it was a great honour. And I think it would do wonders for his career if he could possibly pinch it this year and All-Australian (selection) would set himself up because he's going to be a great player in the future.''
Riewoldt said he "well and truly know where I'm sitting'', six goals behind leader, West Coast's Josh Kennedy. But he's not banking on a third medal, particularly as he's often playing a different forward role in coach Damien Hardwick's weekly game plan.
"I've got a couple, I don't need any more. I'd rather have an impact and whatever I can do for us to get over the line. It's not about individual awards, it's about the four (premiership) points at the end of the day. And at the moment we're getting it done and playing pretty good footy,'' the Tiger forward said.
"It (role) definitely has changed. The last two weeks I've probably gone back to playing a little bit closer to goal. I've been playing a little bit further up the ground and it (role) definitely changes in games as well. It's whatever Damien wants me to do and what's the best fit for that time of the game or that week.''
Riewoldt would love to hit the scoreboard against Carlton at the MCG on Saturday after being goalless in the opening round win against the Blues. But he said his single contribution against Brisbane last round proved his point about the necessary forward flexibility this season.
"We've been confident where we've been going since Damien got here in 2010. But this year definitely we've been very confident of where we want to be and how we want to perform,'' he said.
"It's obviously good to know that we will be playing in September. We haven't set a ceiling on where we want to finish or anything like that. So, we won't be happy until round 23 and we know where we finish (on the ladder) and who we play in that first week of the finals.
"There's definitely a bit of a buzz around the group because there's a lot of guys here who haven't played finals. We want to finish as high as possible and get on a good roll going into September.
"We knocked Fremantle off and Hawthorn and I think we can be a real contender in September, but we still need to focus on the small things, the game plan.
"This week against Carlton is a huge game for us. Arch rivals and they showed in round 1 that they're never out of the game. We were 36 points up at three-quarter time and they came back and we only just pipped them by a goal, so we know they'll be hurting after a loss at the weekend against the Doggies and they'll come out firing.''
A reasonable run with long-term injuries has buoyed the group for a deep run in September.
"We'll look to get Dylan Grimes back possibly this week or maybe next week, Jake King is going to be touch and go (this round), Shane Edwards was a late withdrawal last week with a bit of hamstring tightness and he'll be pushing to play this week,'' Riewoldt said.
"At the moment our list is in pretty good nick. Obviously, there's Chris Knights who has been out for the year, but, touch wood, we can continue to have a pretty free run of injuries.''
Coleman Medal contenters
60 Josh Kennedy (WCE)
59 Jarryd Roughead (HAW)
58 Jeremy Cameron (GWS)
55 Travis Cloke (COL)
54 Jack Riewoldt (RIC)
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/jack-riewoldt-says-it-would-be-great-to-see-jeremy-cameron-win-the-coleman-medal-this-season/story-fndv8t7m-1226696228164
