No matter where Nick Riewoldt plays in 2017, St Kilda is confident the champion forward is capable of producing another season of sustained excellence.
With Tim Membrey emerging as a force inside 50 last season, a year after Josh Bruce blossomed, and with Paddy McCartin set to flap his wings this winter, the six-time Trevor Barker Award winner is likely to play predominantly on a wing again in 2017.
The 34-year-old split his time between the wing and up forward last year where he finished 3rd in the best and fairest and still made a significant impact on the scoreboard with 41 goals.
After Riewoldt made an impressive start to his 17th year in the caper, St Kilda Assistant Coach, Adam Kingsley, told reporters that the five-time All-Australian was still able to produce high-quality performances due to his enormous work ethic and deep competitive drive.
“It’s his 17th season and he’s still able to do it – he’s a remarkable player,” Kingsley said in the aftermath of St Kilda’s one-point win over Port Adelaide.
“But it’s not luck, he works incredibly hard throughout the pre-season and week to week, working on his body and making sure he’s in terrific shape.
“He’s got such a great competitive drive, work rate and mental toughness to be able to just continue to work when he’s tired.
“His contribution whether it’s wing or forward is terrific for us.”
Monday Wash-Up: JLT1 v Port Adelaide
Kingsley, speaking after he coached the Saints in their opening JLT Community Series fixture, predicted that Riewoldt would divide his time again this season; a move that will promote further development inside 50.
“He’ll play both, he’ll be forward and he’ll be wing,” he said.
“We’ve got three tall forwards in Bruce, Membrey and McCartin who we’re really confident will develop into a terrific forward line and we’ve got wingmen who we rate really highly in [Jack] Newnes and Jack Billings.
“He was pretty good on the wing, he’s obviously a star forward, but he was good on the wing last year, he gave us a lot of maturity around the ball he gave us a lot of drive, certainly the defensive aspect of his wing role is right up there with the elite.”
St Kilda will continue their preparations for Round 1 when they face Carlton at Ikon Park this Saturday afternoon.
