Toast Nick Riewoldt - The Champion

[Rors]

There should be a bronze statue of Nick placed outside Etihad Stadium after he retires. Absolute champion of the game

While we are at it, if we're serious about 'owning' the mornington peninsula, we should lobbying the council have Doc, Barks, Harves, Lenny & Roo's faces carved into Oliver's Hill at Frankston (Mt Rushmore style)

Get it done

 

[VDS66]

Nick is too business orientated to get back to footy after retirement. Said so himself.

 

[saintersown]

After the first 5 rounds this is how I see it.

Round 1 vs MEL: 1-2 votes.
Round 2 vs GWS: 3 votes.
Round 3 vs WCE: 0 votes.
Round 4 vs ADE: 0 votes.
Round 5 vs ESS: 3 votes.

Which means after round five he should have around 7-8 votes and is leading the Coleman

 

[mysainters]

I think nick has big plans after footy, most of which would see him away from it.

However I honestly wouldn't be surprised if footy pulls him back.

He seems to have a love of the game.

 

[Hammers_Saints]

Look at Nick Riewoldt's chase in the final term, the guy is absolutely buggered yet he puts in an 80 metre chase just to force some perceived pressure. The best thing about it, no one would say a bad word if he didn't put that chase in, but he did do it because he did it for us. The fans. He loves the club so much and I feel like everything he does for the club is for us fans and words can't describe how much it means to able to call Nick Riewoldt a St Kilda Football Club player

 

[Nutsngum]

I think he has plans on getting into the media post football. I know he has guest commentated a lot already.

 

[karaoke]

I think he has plans on getting into the media post football. I know he has guest commentated a lot already.

6 months in Oz commentating football, 6 months in USA, probably?

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Champion isn't a strong enough word. He really is a once in a generation player. Some would argue that the Saints may have even had better players than Nick. But I don't think weve had any that will be harder to replace. A lot of that comes down to timing . I'll try to explain that.
Plugger was an absolute FREAK!!!!! of a player and could never be duplicated . But we did have Stewie Loewe at the time as a back up. Now im not saying Buckets was as good as Plugger but he was a seriously good player in his own right.
Fast forward when Loewe retired and by then we had drafted Roo and picked up Gehrig.
Also by the time the mighty Harves had retired we had Lenny firing on all cylinders.
When Lenny goes we have Jack Steven who still has a bit to go to reach Lenny status , but Jack looks like he is gonna be seriously good
The hole is going to be when Roo retires. Maister, Stanley & Lee all probably wouldn't even be in the B grade bracket at the minute & Spence is just a long term prospect. Fingers crossed Tommy Lee can lift and give us a couple of Jason Heatly type years once Roo has retired
Don't get me wrong im not being all doom n gloom. If anybody can work out a drafting strategy or a game plan to counter balance the loss of Roo it would be Bains, Pelican & Richo. I have full faith in these 3 .
With his form the way it is it would be ideal if Nick goes on again next year giving us a bit more time to develop what we already have or for Bains & the Pelican to work their magic come draft time.
The Club is bigger than any individual. And eventually life will go on without Nick. But for now im just going to sit back and marvel at him playing his heart out for the Saints this yr ( and hopefully next yr) co's boy are we going to miss him when his gone.
His name sits right up there with the Doc as far as im concerned.

 

[TassieSaint]

Some people were suggesting the past couple of seasons that Nick's mind has already gone to life after footy, but the way he has played doesn't say that to me at all. I know it's very optimistic but I can see him being around for our next push. I get the feeling he wants to drag us back into contention and go out fighting rather than retire after a bottom 4 finish.

 

[Nutsngum]

Comparing Plugger and Rooey is an exercise in frustration as they both played very different styles of footy in two very different eras.

We will never know how "Well" the legends would actually play if they were in the modern game. Tony Lockett kicked the most goals ever when the game was all about the mass goal shoot out. Riewoldt runs the best defenders of the game into the ground when the game is all about blistering endurance and speed.

One thing Riweoldt HAS done however is led St Kilda in two premiership tilts whilst plugger bailed only a couple of years from the first flag opportunity in 25 years at that point.

 

[Strahany]

One thing I would ask in the Riewoldt vs Plugger debate, is how would each go in the other's respective era?

I daresay Nick would be performing to the same level, if not better (due to a great difference in fitness, compared to his opponent), whilst Plugger would struggle due to being a defensive liability, and teams perfecting the 3rd man up/man in the hole strategies which were nothing more than a token stop-gap measure, occasionally used (poorly) to try and curb a forward that was having a day out.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Comparing Plugger and Rooey is an exercise in frustration as they both played very different styles of footy in two very different eras.

We will never know how "Well" the legends would actually play if they were in the modern game. Tony Lockett kicked the most goals ever when the game was all about the mass goal shoot out. Riewoldt runs the best defenders of the game into the ground when the game is all about blistering endurance and speed.

One thing Riweoldt HAS done however is led St Kilda in two premiership tilts whilst plugger bailed only a couple of years from the first flag opportunity in 25 years at that point.

Yes that is a very good point But coming from somebody who watched all the 80s & 90's first hand a lot of todays players wouldn't last 5 min against the brutality of some of the legends.
I agree Plugger may have struggled with todays defensive zones, but have somebody like Cale Hooker try to fill the defensive hole in front of Plugger back in 1991 and they would've been identifying Cale's remains by his dental records.
They are both champs

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

One thing I would ask in the Riewoldt vs Plugger debate, is how would each go in the other's respective era?

I daresay Nick would be performing to the same level, if not better (due to a great difference in fitness, compared to his opponent), whilst Plugger would struggle due to being a defensive liability, and teams perfecting the 3rd man up/man in the hole strategies which were nothing more than a token stop-gap measure, occasionally used (poorly) to try and curb a forward that was having a day out.

Cant argue like that. Back in 1987 Nick would've been training twice maybe 3 times a week and getting a gut full of beer every Sat night. He wouldn't be running around like a gazelle like he is now. Nick is a true champion of the modern era.

 

[Strahany]

Cant argue like that. Back in 1987 Nick would've been training twice maybe 3 times a week and getting a gut full of beer every Sat night. He wouldn't be running around like a gazelle like he is now. Nick is a true champion of the modern era.

On the same token, Plugger wouldn't have been the immovable object (read: fat prick) that he was, as that's unacceptable in today's game.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

On the same token, Plugger wouldn't have been the immovable object (read: fat prick) that he was, as that's unacceptable in today's game.

Yes that is true
But Plugger still has to get respect for being the player he was at the time he played. Back in the Moorabbin days people would walk around to what ever end we were kicking too each qtr just to watch him destroy an opponent and regualy kick a lazy 8 or 9 goals.
But Nick has him beat hands down in the loyalty dept. Wich makes Nick more of a favourite son than Plugger.
Anybody my age who got to witness both first hand is bloody lucky

 

[VDS66]

Loewe v Roo is a better comparison as both were mobile CHF's.

Plugger v Gherig is the other.

IMHO.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Loewe v Roo is a better comparison as both were mobile CHF's.

Plugger v Gherig is the other.

IMHO.

If we could combine Roo's amazing aerobic ability, Loewe's marking ability & Pluggers dead eye kicking ability its safe to say we would never lose a game again
Oh! and throw in Gehrigs mullet and crazy eyes just to make it even more fun

 

[Smoke_Me_AKipper]

Yes that is true
But Plugger still has to get respect for being the player he was at the time he played. Back in the Moorabbin days people would walk around to what ever end we were kicking too each qtr just to watch him destroy an opponent and regualy kick a lazy 8 or 9 goals.
But Nick has him beat hands down in the loyalty dept. Wich makes Nick more of a favourite son than Plugger.
Anybody my age who got to witness both first hand is bloody lucky

Yes agreed - I think being able to watch 80's and 90's (I went in the 70's but being such a little fella meant I couldn't remember) we have been lucky enough to witness so many legends of St Kilda. Barker, Plugger, Harvey in particular with huge mentions to Winmar, Loewe, & Burke. I don't mention any players from last 10-15 years as I'm taking it as a given that we have seen them play....Roo, Milne, Hayes, etc

Never saw Doc or Ian Stewart

 

[Plugger35]

Hard to compare Riewoldt and Plugger as they are different types of players, both are champions though and St Kilda legends. Although Plugger left St Kilda to go to Sydney after the 1994 season he's still remembered as a Saints legend for helping to drag us from being the perennial whipping boys of the 1980s into a finals team and respected force to be reckoned with by the early 90s.

It's no surprise given my username and avatar that Plugger was my favourite player and the main reason I became a Saints supporter, he was a phenomenal player that had freakish skills for a guy his size. People often think that Plugger was just a big fat bloke that stood in the goalsquare out-muscling defenders to take big grabs, sure he did plenty of that but he was also deceptively quick on the lead and nimble at ground level, he was a deadly set shot but could also snap goals Milney style. He had all the skills to pay the bills but frustratingly spent a lot of time injured or suspended.

I still reckon Plugger would be a gun if he was playing today but I don't think he'd spend much time on the park with how soft the MRP is these days.

For the Saints supporters that are too young to remember Plugger, this video gives you a good idea just how good he was.

 

[Fruity Boots]

I hope he cracks Mike Sheahan's top fifty in 2015. Not a mention this year!

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

I hope he cracks Mike Sheahan's top fifty in 2015. Not a mention this year!

Lol.. Speaking of that the flog David King on AFL360 after Mike released his top 50 questioned why Mike had Riewoldt at 27 ahead of Josh Kennedy (Eagles), he is a clueless flog.

 

[VDS66]

ha can u imagine Plugger with the new no hands in the back rules? Would kick 200 a year.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

ha can u imagine Plugger with the new no hands in the back rules? Would kick 200 a year.

And S.O.S would've given away 200 free kicks a yr
We started a thread praising the great Roo and veered off into talking about the great Plugger
We may not have many flags but geez weve had some wonderful players to watch over the yrs.

 

[Fruity Boots]

Lol.. Speaking of that the flog David King on AFL360 after Mike released his top 50 questioned why Mike had Riewoldt at 27 ahead of Josh Kennedy (Eagles), he is a clueless flog.

I thought he wasn't listed at all...

Baring injuries (touch wood) he should be in the top ten next year.

And I expect some Brownlow points Bruce/Quaters/Demitrio!

 

[Sunshine Saint]

Yes that is a very good point But coming from somebody who watched all the 80s & 90's first hand a lot of todays players wouldn't last 5 min against the brutality of some of the legends.
I agree Plugger may have struggled with todays defensive zones, but have somebody like Cale Hooker try to fill the defensive hole in front of Plugger back in 1991 and they would've been identifying Cale's remains by his dental records.
They are both champs

Love it