Richmond face the toughest task in football on Friday night, but Jack Riewoldt says it’s not just Fremantle superstar Nat Fyfe who stands between the Tigers and a season-defining win.
Fyfe’s stunning season reached new heights with a 40-possession performance against Adelaide and, while Riewoldt agreed he’s in career-best form, he says the Tigers can’t make it all about curbing the gifted onballer’s influence.
Or can they?
“We’re going to tag him with every player that we’ve got,” Riewoldt joked on Tuesday.
“He’s such a great player.
“He’s such a hard player to play on but for us it’s about team defence. We’re not going to focus on one individual.
“There’s another 21 guys out there who are playing some great footy.
“We need to play a really good team defence game and then obviously try and hurt them on offence as well.”
The unbeaten Dockers are two games clear on top of the ladder heading into round 10, but the Tigers’ season is also gathering momentum with Saturday night’s Dreamtime at the ‘G win their third in a row.
Richmond beat West Coast in their last two trips to Perth and Riewoldt said Subiaco holds no fears for his team.
“It’s going to be a great test for us,” he said.
“Domain Stadium has obviously been a little bit of a happy hunting ground for us, we’ve played some pretty good footy over there over the last three or four years.
“But we’re coming up against the best side in the AFL at the moment. They’re playing some excellent footy with some individual brilliance and some really good team structures.”
The outlook at Punt Road wasn’t nearly as rosy a month ago when Damien Hardwick’s side struggled to a 2-4 start to the season that mirrored last year’s campaign, which ended with a barnstorming nine-game winning streak.
“Sometimes you can be a bit rusty at the start of a season,” Riewoldt said.
“It’s just about evolving as the season goes on.
“We really started to hit our straps towards the back end of last season, where we saw some great wins in a row, and hopefully for us that’s started earlier.”
