In the ninth of a special post-season series on richmondfc.com.au  - 12 things we learnt in 2012 from a Yellow and Black perspective - Tony Greenberg looks at Tiger spearhead Jack Riewoldt.

No. 9:  Jack Riewoldt doesn’t need everything running his way to kick goals.

The fact Jack Riewoldt managed to take out his second Coleman Medal in 2012, despite being below his best for a fair portion of the season, speaks volumes for his goalkicking capacity.

Riewoldt admitted he could have performed better, overall, in the 2012 season.
“I probably rate it . . . not a failure, but not up to the standards that I’ve set myself to obviously perform for the Club this year,” he said.

Clearly, those standards are fairly high because Riewoldt still proved a major handful for opposition defenders throughout the 2012 season.

Riewoldt kicked three goals four times, four goals three times, five goals twice, six goals twice, and produced a superb, season-high, eight-goal display against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in Round 10.

How many goals do you believe Jack Riewoldt is capable of kicking in a season?

The 23-year-old, who has now played 112 league games since his debut with Richmond in 2007, was ranked No. 1 at the Club this season for total marks inside-50 (with 83), No. 1 for total contested marks (39), No. 5 for total marks (114) and No. 2 for goals assists (20).

With 65 goals for the season, he won his third Michael Roach Medal (the Club’s goalkicking award) in-a-row, and became a dual Coleman Medallist - only the second Richmond player to top the competition’s goalkicking table twice (Michael Roach was the other one).  

Along the way, he also moved past former Tigers Billy Wilson and Neil Balme, into 13th place on the Club’s all-time goalkicking list.

Not bad for someone who underwent four operations post-season this time last year, which undoubtedly hampered his preparation for the 2012 season.

Mind you, it would have been a good deal better if Riewoldt had made more of his goalscoring opportunities.  He kicked his 65 goals from 113 shots - an accuracy percentage of 57.5, compared to 70% the previous season and 66.7% in 2010.

If Riewoldt can get a smoother lead-in to 2013, and regain his accuracy, there’s no reason why he can’t reach his lofty expectations, as he’s shown over the past few seasons that he possesses the necessary attributes to set Richmond’s forward line alight.

Tomorrow, read about Tigerland’s Mr Consistency.