Jack be nimbleBy Damian Barrett
afl.com.au
Wednesday, July 10, 2013IT'S TIME for Richmond to unleash Jack Riewoldt.
To let him have his head, to encourage him to go looking for some "me time".
To allow him to gesticulate and arm-wave at his teammates.
To ensure he's directed a whole lot more inside-50 footy than he has been getting to this point of the 2013 season.
Riewoldt is far more a team player than many commentators acknowledge, yet at times he gives the impression he's feeling like a caged wild animal.
Coach Damien Hardwick's decision to make Riewoldt just one component of his big man options in the forward line, and not the option, is understandable and in keeping with accepted 2013 practice.
In also directing football to Tyrone Vickery, Luke McGuane and latterly Aaron Edwards, Hardwick is working toward having a versatile, unpredictable forward structure that always has opposition teams guessing.
But, with due respect to Vickery, McGuane and Edwards, they have nowhere near the football ability of the big man with whom they share Tigers' forward 50m space.
Opponents don't have the fear of god put into them when the Tigers direct inside-50 balls to those guys.
They do, though, when it heads Riewoldt's way.
Riewoldt hasn't cut loose in 2013, yet with 42 goals has just three fewer than Coleman Medal leader Josh Kennedy.
In 2013, Riewoldt's personal impact on the scoreboard is similar to the previous two seasons, managing about 20 per cent of the Tigers' score.
In 2010, when Riewoldt won his first Coleman Medal, his 78 goals equated to about 30 per cent of the Tigers' tally.
He is taking, on average, 0.6 fewer marks per match compared with 2012 figures (3.
, but 0.3 more than 2011.
This year, he has one bag of goals seven in round two and has twice booted five in a game.
Incredibly, Richmond directed more football to McGuane (25.4 per cent) in the nine matches he played than Riewoldt (24.1 per cent). Vickery is third with 18.2 per cent.
Since round 10, though, the Tigers have been looking for him on more occasions Riewoldt 32.5 per cent, Vickery 18.7 per cent and Edwards 11.4 per cent.
So maybe change is already underway.
But one thing that cannot be recorded in statistical data is a player's x-Factor.
Riewoldt, more than any other Tiger, has a high X-Factor. When he's "on", he can be unstoppable.
Hardwick will obviously do with Riewoldt what he sees fit. And no doubt he is more than satisfied with how his forward structure has been ticking along in 2013.
Yet we'd suggest that, beginning this week against Gold Coast in Cairns, he removes the shackles on Riewoldt.
Then do it again the following week against Fremantle at the MCG.
The Dockers will be without their superstar defender Luke McPharlin in that game, so why not seek to put them even further out of their comfort zone?
Then the Sydney Swans await Richmond, followed by Hawthorn.
Richmond needs to do something different to what it has shown to this point of 2013 it has been unable to defeat any team above it on the ladder - if it is to compete in that Freo-Swans-Hawks stretch.
Sixth on the ladder after 15 rounds is a significant achievement for Richmond, but there is a lot of footy left before the season can be properly judged as a success or failure.
Things could go either way from here.
Tricking things up a bit from here, including giving Riewoldt a licence to strut around as the main man, could even keep alive the outside hopes of a top-four finish.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-07-10/jack-be-nimble
