Star Richmond key forward Jack Riewoldt provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an assessment of the team’s, and his, 2018 season.
The Tiger Army
“It’s been a sensational year with our fans . . . We played in front of the best fans on the biggest stages more than anyone else . . . 100,000 members for the first time is something we should be really proud of.”
Overall season view
“We had a really good year . . . It didn’t finish the way we wanted it to, but at the start of every year we’re a one-in-18 chance of winning (the premiership). We know that our best footy is good enough . . . Unfortunately, we didn’t perform the way we would like to against Collingwood (in the preliminary final). Trent (Cotchin) always speaks about from your darkest moments is when you learn the most about yourselves. So the fans can rest assured that we’ll be back out there in summer, sweating it out, trying to get us back to where we want to go again . . . We’re going to learn from this year and we’re looking forward to next year.”
The forward group
“We saw the debut of Jack Higgins. He’s a really exciting player . . . We were probably hurt by injury a little bit this year with not seeing Daniel (Rioli) until halfway through the year. He’ll be better for the run and next year is going to be a really exciting year for him. Unfortunately, Dan Butler got injured at the end of the year and he’s a really important piece to our puzzle, along with Jason Castagna. And we’ll look to add to the group as well, which is exciting.”
Individual season appraisal
“I thought I had a pretty good year, pretty consistent. I just love the word consistent when you speak about players, and I feel like I brought that to the group. I just tried to play my role as well as I could for the Club and felt that I did that.”
Winning a third Coleman Medal
“It’s something I’m proud of, but you can take all three of them back if it gives us a chance to run out on the weekend (in the 2018 Grand Final). I’m proud of it. Although it is an individual award, there’s a lot of hard work that goes out on the field to get me the ball and to get our forwards the ball . . . I just try and finish off the best I can. And I was lucky enough to win the award this year.”
Focus areas moving forward
“For myself, it’s just constant improvement and evolution. My game’s changed a lot since 12 years ago when I first walked in the door, and I’ll continue to look to get better. I think all our forwards will do that. We’ll have a natural evolution because the guys are still so young and they’re getting better at every facet of their game. So, hopefully, I can help them improve and continue to speed up that improvement. They’ve been fantastic listeners so far, and certainly with the impact they’ve had on games, you know that they’re going in the right direction . . . It’s a really exciting time for the forward line.”
