Riewoldt, who kicked 78 goals in 2010 and 62 last year, has just six goals after four rounds this season, but Hardwick has total faith in the 23-year-old’s ability to quickly rebound.
“A lot of stuff he’s doing right. The goals will come as a result of a lot of other things,” Hardwick said.
“He’s probably averaged four shots on goal a game . . . He kicked 1.1 and two out on the full last weekend. The week previous, he kicked 1.3 and two out on the full. So he’s just got to get his kicking boots on.
“He can play better - there’s no doubt about that. He’s just got to get the little things right and the big things will come . . . We’ve got no doubt he’ll get there. “He’s just got to relax. Sometimes you can try too hard and try and force things when they’re not there. That’s the reality of the situation.
“But, overall, if he keeps working on the defensive aspects, and the intensity of his work-rate, that’s where he’ll get the results on the scoreboard. “He’ll become better as the season progresses.”
Hardwick pointed out that Riewoldt, in typical manner, was remaining upbeat . . .
“It’s pretty hard to dull Jack’s confidence on the field also. He’s fine, he knows that his form will turn around. He’s just got to work hard on the training track,” he said.
Hardwick also claimed there was an early-season trend of key forwards being a bit quieter than usual . . .
“It’s probably club-wide at the moment, where the key forwards just aren’t quite firing,” he said.
“I think the leading goalkicker (in the competition) at the moment has kicked 13 goals, which is just over three goals a game.
“So, overall, there hasn’t been a great deal of goals kicked by the ‘keys’ . . .”blog comments powered by Disqus
