Richmond star Jack Riewoldt had longer than usual to consider his football mortality in the off-season.
With the Tigers missing finals after a masterful four-year run that delivered three premierships, Riewoldt packed up and headed home to Tasmania for more than two months.
His wife, Carly, is also from the Apple Isle and they saw Richmond’s shock fate as a rare chance for their daughters, Poppy and Hazel, to spend extended time with their grandparents.
Riewoldt “cried like a baby” having to leave Carly and then-one-year-old Poppy behind to move into a Queensland quarantine hub to help keep the 2020 AFL season going.
Hazel arrived since then, so how the Tigers are faring, his 33-year-old body is holding up and what he’s producing individually on-field are no longer the main factors in how long Riewoldt plays for.
“I don’t know how long I’ve got left and I don’t really like to put a number on it,” he told News Corp.
“But my 23-year-old self thinks completely differently to my 33-year-old self, obviously with life circumstances and whatnot.
“I have a young family and I want to spend more time with them. If I feel like football’s getting in the way of that, then this may be my last year.
“But if I can continue to juggle it, then I’ll continue to juggle it, because you’re a long time retired.
“There are hard sessions you get to the end of and think, ‘Bloody hell, what am I doing this for?’ but there are so many great things about being around a football club, and when my time comes, I will miss them.”
Riewoldt still has plenty to offer on the evidence of his 51-goal season last year and ideally wants to serve the club he loves for as long as it needs him.
His honour roll is already immense: three flags, two Jack Dyer medals as Richmonxjmtzywd club champion, three Coleman Medals, three All-Australian selections and 11-time club-leading goalkicker.
Riewoldt sits comfortably among the all-time Tasmanian football greats and he’s a fitting ambassador for the Hobart-based National Pies, which is set to name a pie after him.
The champion forward’s 305 games also sit behind only Kevin Bartlett (403) and Jack Dyer (311) in Tigers history, while he has also been vice-captain since 2017.
Perhaps, only Riewoldt’s advanced age counted against him succeeding Trent Cotchin as Richmond captain, but he said there wasn’t even a tinge of disappointment about not winning that title.
He was willing to step into the role if required but instead the Tigers anointed co-captains for the first time in Dylan Grimes and Toby Nankervis.
“Maybe, for me, I’m just a bit long in the tooth,” Riewoldt said.
“For the role I serve, whether it’s captain, vice-captain, whatever mantle you had or have, it doesn’t really change too much in terms of what I’ll provide, which is similar with Trent as well and Shane Edwards.
“We’re blessed we’ve got these two fantastic captains – Toby’s 27 and Dylan’s 30, so there’s what I would call a football generation in between them that they can sort of serve us now for a period.”
Riewoldt points to himself, Cotchin, Edwards, Kane Lambert and Dustin Martin as veteran leaders who will provide support while highlighting Jack Graham and Jayden Short as two who are emerging in that area.
But in Grimes and Nankervis, he believes the players identified the next-best thing to Cotchin.
“Dylan’s a really deep thinker in terms of where the group’s going and actually looking to the future,” Riewoldt said.
“And Toby, while he’s a ferocious competitor on the field and even on the training track, he’s got this really great soft and caring side to him, which is one of Trent’s strengths.
“We’ve had Trent for so long that we’ve become accustomed to his traits and they’re really important to us, so naturally we looked to people who have similar traits.
“The leader Trent is; we couldn’t find (his replacement) in one person, so we’ve been able to find it in two people, which is great.”
As for Richmond’s season prospects, Riewoldt said reports of the club’s golden era being over were greatly exaggerated.
He is mentally refreshed after the longer break and said his teammates, young and old, shared his excitement for the new football year.
“People think that maybe Richmond’s peak has come already and that the years ahead might not be as fruitful as the ones in the recent past,” Riewoldt said.
“But we’ve regenerated really well and the thing that excites me is that we’ve added five kids, plus Robbie Tarrant, who is obviously going to be a pivotal part of the backline.
“Some of these kids, like Josh Gibcus, are going to have an impact on season 2022.”
Coach Damien Hardwick also caught Riewoldt’s eye with his comments in a frank interview with News Corp this week.
Hardwick conceded he wasn’t at his best on occasion last season and didn’t recognise that quickly enough, but he vehemently denied his marriage breakdown impacted on his relationship with the players.
“I just love his honesty. He puts his hand up and, sometimes, I think he probably unfairly wears the burden and blame,” Riewoldt said.
“The players could step up a little bit more, too, but his honesty within the club and the group seeps into the media sometimes and that interview is a clear example of where he thinks we can improve.
“Like all great leaders, he thinks he can lead from the front with that.
“Some additions to our coaching team will help him, but he’s been really great so far this pre-season and in looking outside the box to help us get better.”
