Richmond’s star spearhead Jack Riewoldt believes the Tigers’ spirited 13-point victory over Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval last Saturday night will provide their self-belief levels with a further valuable boost.
The Tigers overcame a 16-point deficit during the third quarter, finishing the match full of running to register their ninth win of the season from 14 games.
“It is only four points, but it’s an important win,” Riewoldt told ‘Fox Footy’ post-game.
“The wins away from home are really important.
“It’s really tough to win on the road. And it’s tough to win in an environment that the Port Adelaide fans create here at the Adelaide Oval, as do the Adelaide fans as well.
“So we take a lot of confidence out of winning away, travelling well as a team, and getting the four points . . .
“We held strong there.
“Early on, they were probably on top of us a little bit, and we weren’t playing our best footy.
“At half-time, we spoke about the fact that we were only two goals behind and a lot of our major ball-winners hadn’t had a lot of contested possessions. So the ability to lift our work-rate in the second half was important.
“I thought our ability to run and spread was the thing that won us the game.
“We felt like we were travelling pretty well with our legs on top of the ground and were in pretty good nick at three-quarter time.
“We don’t have a heap of height in our side, so we’ve got to use our strengths. Our running certainly is one of those.
“We learned a lot of lessons probably in a similar stage of the GWS game, where we may have gone into our shells a little bit more . . .”