Jumping Jack keeps his team, and others, happy
Jake Niall | July 27, 2009
THE first Richmond player to whom Alastair Clarkson should be sending a thank-you card for keeping Hawthorn within reach of the eight is Jack Riewoldt.
When Matthew Lloyd couldn't stand up because of his wounded heel, and Scott Lucas was equally ineffectual without an excuse, besides his age, Riewoldt played what his coach Jade Rawlings believed was his best game in the AFL, given "the fact that it was in a big game".
If Richmond was well served by Ben Cousins, Brett Deledio and Trent Cotchin, none made as telling a contribution as the Nordic Tasmanian who contributed 6.1 of his extended family's 11.2 score over two games.
Riewoldt had four opponents. He started with a first-year player, Michael Hurley, and finished up on Dustin Fletcher, a 17-year superstar, with Adam McPhee and Tayte Pears the others who failed to quell his influence.
Riewoldt's ability to mark the ball, to read the game and out-smart quicker opponents has been evident since his debut. But there were a few slows on him, the first being his capacity to convert, especially the crucial shots — some have wondered whether this was family trait, though his cousin has been pretty accurate of late.
"Our conversion has been a bit poor, and myself has been a bit poor over the start of the first sort of 12 weeks," said Riewoldt. "The last sort of three weeks, I've really been back on track and kicking straight …"
He said there was "nothing wrong" with his set-shot technique, and, from what one can gather, he kicks straight and long at training. "It's just a confidence thing and I've got my confidence back now and I know I'm a good kick and the rest of the forwards know we're good kicks."
The other "slow" on Riewoldt was his modest leg speed for a player who, at 192 centimetres, is at the shorter end of key forwards. But Riewoldt also has two significant assets that were on display yesterday: his footy smarts and the age-old immutable skill that has enabled Lloyd to boot more than 900 goals — the ability to take a mark. At least twice yesterday, he flew very high attempting screamers that he couldn't quite hold. "Got a couple of nice rides today, couldn't grab hold of them, which is a bit disappointing."
Riewoldt has strong hands, and despite his lack of pace, possesses an above-average leap, which compensates for the fact that he doesn't burn grass like Buddy Franklin; on the footballer-athlete scale, he tips firmly in the direction of the former.
While Riewoldt was the main target yesterday, Rawlings acknowledges that, long-term, he would be best with a tall power forward alongside him. "I think he needs another foil, definitely. I think (Jayden) Post is trying to be that, and I couldn't be happier with his development and his work rate. There's a bloke who wears No. 12 (Matthew Richardson) who might be able to give him a bit of chop out when he comes back for a little while; we'll see how long that is.
"But definitely I think Jack will work well in the future with another in behind him, because he shows he can play full-forward and centre half-forward equally as well."
Riewoldt added on the issue of a power-forward accomplice: "Long term it'd be nice to get a power forward down there. But you look at Jayden Post, he's 194-195 (centimetres). He's probably the key, the answer to the thing."
If Hawthorn owes Riewoldt, there's some give-and-take between the parties considering that the Tiger forward has been tutored one-on-one by former Hawk great Dermott Brereton, a part-time teacher of forwards at Punt Road. Brereton, he said, had been particularly helpful in improving his leading.
"Dermott, he's just explaining, going back to the basics and working on those again. He's been a massive help, probably couldn't have asked for a better coach actually," he said.
Riewoldt was modest and laconic about his performance, noting that the delivery from the midfield was "sensational". Surprisingly enough, aided by the inclusions of Cousins and Cotchin, Richmond truly did use the ball by foot better than the Bombers.
"It was my week this week," said Riewoldt. "It might be Mitch Morton or Robin Nahas or Jayden Post next week." And Jack's week meant as much to Hawthorn and Carlton as it did to the Tigers.
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