St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson said he felt numb in the moments after Nick Riewoldt fell to the ground on Saturday night and thought the champion forwards career might have come to a devastating end at Etihad Stadium.
Riewoldt, 34, hyperextended his knee in the dying minutes of St Kilda’s Round 1 loss to Melbourne, but after grave initial concerns by the six-time Trevor Barker Award winner, he has avoided serious injury, which could have brought his decorated career to an end.
“Certainly for me, I was just numb when it happened. It was just a feeling of numbness and you feel for the player at that stage,” Richardson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night.
“You do have some time to think about the long term and you’re thinking he isn’t the right side of 30.
“We all know he’s still playing really good footy; he had a really positive game on the weekend but you think about all those things.”
Monday Wash-Up: Round 1 v Melbourne
In his second appearance as a weekly panellist alongside Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott, Richardson detailed the feeling inside the coaches box in the minutes after Riewoldt sent a scare through the entire stadium.
“I didn’t see it you tend to follow the ball and look at what’s happening there. The play stops, you’re looking at the replay and it certainly doesn’t look good. But in amongst all that there’s just this numbness that you’re feeling for the player,” he said.
“‘Joey’ was in the box – his best mate – he certainly didn’t help; he went pretty early on the diagnosis that wasn’t to be. He got up and got on the trolley and I thought that was pretty positive but I was told that’s not necessarily positive.”
Riewoldt is set to miss at least the next two weeks after scans revealed no structural damage to his knee, but the alternative could have been far, far worse.
