Jack Riewoldt might be keeping a lid on things but older cousin Nick won’t hesitate to say it – Richmond are playing their best football in years.
The elder Riewoldt has had a close-up view of the Tigers’ highs and lows during his 17 AFL seasons with St Kilda.
Fourth-placed Richmond and the eighth-placed Saints are well in contention to return to the finals after missing out last season.
But while the Saints have been missing focus at times and have been dour at others, Richmond have often been downright scintillating, playing a brand of fast-paced, high-pressure football.
That has been tempered at times by their struggles to close out tight games, most notably losing to Sydney in round 13 after leading by six goals earlier in the game.
Nick Riewoldt was in the commentary box for that game and says Richmond’s dominant start in piling on five unanswered first-quarter goals shows how dangerous they can be.
“The style of footy that they were playing – obviously Sydney responded really well – but that’s as good as I’ve seen this year,” the Saints veteran said on Wednesday.
“We know that they’re a really formidable opponent.
“They’ve got some really well-established senior players leading the way and some really exciting young players. They’ll be tough to beat.”
Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt struck a more cautious tone after a week in which the Tigers have been touted as premiership contenders.
“We’re probably just a little bit more balanced,” he said.
“We’ve found our brand and we’ve found our identity.
“I think the strength of our side is our ability to just hang around in the contest, bar three quarters against Adelaide in round six where we were blown out of the water, I feel like we’ve always been in every game.”
The two sides will face off at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night for the second annual Maddie’s Match to raise awareness of bone marrow failure syndrome.
Maddie Riewoldt, the younger sister of Nick, died in 2015 aged 26.
More than $1.6 million has been raised towards new treatments for the disorder through Maddie’s Vision.
