Opinion Nick Reiwoldt - The Flawed Champion

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Aug 13, 2006
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Purely to compare to the other great key forward of his era:
Jono Brown 256 games: 2.3 goals. 1.3 behinds. 7.1 marks. 14.4 disposals

Nick Riewoldt 336 games: 2.1 goals. 1.4 behinds. 8.8 marks. 16.7 disposals

Brown was 64% goals to behinds, Riewoldt was 60% and that difference means something, it's games or seasons where you're off the boil.

At the end of the day Riewoldt deserves all the superlatives but if you were grading him on a video game he'd score very highly in marking and field kicking and a bunch of areas, but his highest score the 99/100 would be for endurance as well as leadership and intangibles. An absolute star but just not the freakish talent to the extent of a Buddy or a Dusty. If that's the worst thing you can say about someone it's not a bad thing!
 

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Jun 29, 2006
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His kicking for goal was a simple reflection of where he'd take his shots from by comparison to other KPF's. So many shots from borderline areas does not help stats, but to still have a 60%+ record is well and truly grounds not to use that against him.
I luv rating great KPF's, and this guy was possibly the greatest mobile marking target I've seen. Nobody would provide such a consistent target as this guy. He could burn ANY defender within half a quarter, and he largely morphed defences into what we now see just to stay with a constant threat wide out.
I would never presume to compare his kicking record to KPF's playing deeper, as most of his work was much further upfield. Take shots when completely spent and see how you go.

I remember one season we were in here arguing about how Pavlich was a brilliant kick. Both he and Riewoldt had kicked something like 60-70 for the season but Riewoldt had missed a few easy ones and didn't have that fluid style. The difference though was the equivalent of hitting the post twice over a full season. Pointless arguments.

Moreso, if someone asked me who was the best wet weather KPF ive seen it would be him. Not so vital now, but usually KPF's are rendered fairly ineffective in terrible conditions but not this bloke. In the worst conditions ive seen at the SCG I saw him kick 0.0. Best on ground by a mile with standing water on the ground, took a huge chest mark at fullback that finally killed off the game, and got 3 well earned brownlow votes. Not bad for kicking 0.0. Ruined our day.
If he played in a different era of more one on one footy and more wet games I can imagine how he'd be remembered.

He's the guy you dream about in a draft. The one you can build an entire team around. Learnt fast that we had no choice but to respect the guy.
 
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The only opposition player to concern me more since the turn of the century has been Franklin. Nathan Brown got Norm Smith votes for his effort in blanketing Riewoldt in a Grand Final. He didn’t offer rebound the other way or anything, he literally just got the votes for beating his man. I can’t think of any other full back type other than Lake to have got votes since, and in Lake’s case the votes were more for his repelling of play generally than his one on one match up. That’s how critical it was to stop Riewoldt and that’s how good of a player Riewoldt has been that a player can get votes for simply stopping him.
 
Well that's incorrect. He might be remembered by you for that incident but dont assume others will share that view

Yep. If there's an individual moment that I will remember his career for, it's this.

 
Jun 29, 2006
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Damn good right to the end as well. Rarity.
It will always remain a mystery to me how a bloke can play every position on the ground over a season, including weeks as a KPD, avge 21 disp, 11 marks, and kick 40+ goals and NOT win AA, when even the HFFers kicked 40. If the winger died 2 decades ago, any chance of anyone earning a bench spot as a utility definitely died in 2016. Would have been one of the first 5 selected by ANY coach. You cant buy that coverage. Figure the selectors must have thought he'd won enough of them already.
Start of the 2005 season was massive. He provided possibly BigFooty's biggest meltdown moment when the Mal Michael/Scott thing happened when he snapped a collarbone. Very first game of the season,the brownlow favorite, youngest named AFL captain, his mob favorite for the flag, in front of family and mates at home. Trying to imagine the feeling as a 21/22 yo. The absolute dream of every kid (maybe apart from the kick after siren to win a GF). He saw his entire season flash by in one half of footy and could have stayed in the rooms but didn't. Emotional moment we used to pay out on him, but i can only imagine being 21/22yo's and handling that moment.
 
Apr 12, 2014
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Not certain of that. This will be scoffed at I’m sure but Hawkins is likely to finish his career with a similar goal tally and while you could argue that he plays deeper than Riewoldt, he’s closer to a CHF than a FF. Different style players mind you and Riewoldt pushed away from goal more than Hawkins but by the same token Hawkins has built a career on setting up teammates as well. Our boy for some reason cops a lot of grief in the general afl community but statistically he is going to finish in the same vicinity as the three dominant power forwards of the century (given that Buddy probably doesn’t belong in the same category) in Riewoldt, Pavlich and Brown.

Reckon you’re a pretty decent poster and whilst I think Hawkins is underrated he certainly isn’t in the same category as those three.
 

blitzer

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 27, 2006
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Brown, Pavlich and Riewoldt all compare pretty well against each other and they were all top 10 players of their eras. Modern players that are probably in that same bucket would be Josh Kennedy and Jack Riewoldt. The actual player you prefer probably comes down to personal preference and team allegiance but they would all be among the best and most valuable players of their era. The only forward clearly better is Franklin.
 
Sep 15, 2005
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Nothing special? He would literally be Geelong's greatest CHF of all time.

Not certain of that. This will be scoffed at I’m sure but Hawkins is likely to finish his career with a similar goal tally and while you could argue that he plays deeper than Riewoldt, he’s closer to a CHF than a FF. Different style players mind you and Riewoldt pushed away from goal more than Hawkins but by the same token Hawkins has built a career on setting up teammates as well. Our boy for some reason cops a lot of grief in the general afl community but statistically he is going to finish in the same vicinity as the three dominant power forwards of the century (given that Buddy probably doesn’t belong in the same category) in Riewoldt, Pavlich and Brown.

2x Premiership and sometime Victorian captain Fred Flanagan is Geelong's greatest CHF of all-time.
 

My Tilly

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Jun 30, 2018
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2x Premiership and sometime Victorian captain Fred Flanagan is Geelong's greatest CHF of all-time.

Obviously never saw Flanagan play but his stats look pretty poor.
Managed just 1 goal per game and often went weeks without even scoring a goal in a game.

I understand it was a different era and players also had play ruck and down back but I am pretty certain had Riewoldt played for Geelong, he would be in the team of the century at CHF.

Stoneham, before injury, was an exceptionally gifted CHF. Very similar to Riewoldt in terms of his running agility and marking. Completely destroyed and never the same after the broken leg and subsequent leg infections.
 

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Rustyrich

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Nick Riewoldt had another 3 seasons in him. Saints have no leaders and he could easily have got a game. He's still bitter about it just like Bartel
 
Sep 27, 2008
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Nick Riewoldt had another 3 seasons in him. Saints have no leaders and he could easily have got a game. He's still bitter about it just like Bartel

He maybe had one more season left in him at the most but he was starting to struggle in his last season so I think he made the right call to retire.

He had a chronic knee injury which plagued him in the last few years of his career where he was barely training at all during the week.

Nick is all class, on and off field, but he will forever have an emptiness in not winning a flag. All the well wishes and back slaps won't rectify that.

His cousin, on the other hand, has been great in 2 final series. That contested tap to Martin q3 v Cats was class.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Nick was BOG or close to it in a number of other finals, he didn't have his best games in the GFs but he was up against tougher opposition than Jack.
 

Rustyrich

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He maybe had one more season left in him at the most but he was starting to struggle in his last season so I think he made the right call to retire.

He had a chronic knee injury which plagued him in the last few years of his career where he was barely training at all during the week.
Ah ok. Yeah probably 1 maybe 2 seasons max but behind closed doors its a different scenario I guess
 
Aug 25, 2005
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I remember Harry Taylor beating him in the 2009 gf. I also remember Taylor taking 2 crucial contested marks in the dying stages of the game, deep into the St Kilda forward line. I don't remember Riewoldt really being in either contest.

But why focus on a handful of games.
He tore his adductor during the week at training.

Heroic to even play that day.
 
No player is perfect.

Yes, Nick wasn't in the mold of a blitzing, tear you apart in a few minutes type big forward mould, but that engine he had was something else. Just went all day and blew the opposition up. Goal kicking sub-par all too often, but then a hell of a lot of players are these days, even without running gameday marathons like Nick.
 
May 5, 2006
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I wonder how his goal kicking would have gone if he played at FF.

The main reasons given that no one except Tory Dickson is a genuinely great set shot (Luke Breust technically excellent but kicks a lot of non set shot goals and and behinds) is fatigue and lack of practice due to sports scientists placing restrictions on training. Riewoldt was Richo 2.0 and covered a heap of territory. Josh Kennedy wasn't that great in 2019 but I could see him kicking something like 40.20 in 2020 because he spends most of his time inside 50 now instead of pushing up the ground. Riewoldt at the end was pushing up the ground even more and accommodating Bruce and Membrey inside 50. Totally different to 20, 30 years ago when Plugger and Dunstall could barely leave the 50 all game and have 10 shots within 30-40m out.

I see kicking for goal a bit like shooting 3s in the NBA. Steph Curry shoots a high % and a high number of shots and often has to pass the ball 3-4 times and run around the arc to get a shot off. That's very different to just standing unguarded in the corner hoping for 4-5 shots a game.
 

Maylandsman

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Oct 22, 2017
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Which forwards have been better this century? I'd only have Buddy ahead.
This century, 100 years...you have him second. You have buddy on top? Wow oh wee.
Big respect to Reiwoldt, bloke was a champ. This century? Surely you’ve made a blue or taking the Mickey.
 

Herne Hill Hammer

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While Nick Reiwoldt was okay, Royce Hart was better!



He wasn't a contemporary of Riewoldt and no-one has claimed that Riewoldt would be Richmond's best ever CHF, so why do we have Royce Hart in the thread?

By the way, it's a pretty lacklustre highlights package, surely there's something better around? No right foot and for all the Joe the Gooses we saw, we may as well have been watching Josh Jenkin's 2017 highlights package.
 

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