No rest for Saints veteran Riewoldt in AFL

Age continues to be no barrier for St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt, who could be set to play every game this AFL season.

The 34-year-old showed his usual prodigious work rate and looked in fine touch during the Saints’ pre-season win over Port Adelaide on Thursday night.

Riewoldt set the tone early with a strong contested mark in the Saints’ defensive 50, starting the chain that led to the first goal of the match through Tim Membrey.

Playing mostly off a wing, he finished with 14 touches and six marks and had plenty of involvement in the Saints’ forward thrusts.

With 319 games and 689 career goals to his name, the former skipper looks set to continue making a significant impact.

“He’s in his 17th season and he’s still able to do it. He’s a remarkable player,” stand-in coach Adam Kingsley said.

“It’s not luck – he works incredibly hard throughout the pre-season, week to week, working on his body, making sure he’s in top shape.

“He’s got such a great competitive drive and 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 obviously.”

The five-time All-Australian this month handed over the captaincy to Jarryn Geary after 10 successive seasons in charge.

But despite managing his minutes against Port Adelaide, the Saints say Riewoldt is unlikely to sit out games during the season proper.

“I don’t think we’ll manage games,” Kingsley said.

“He certainly gets managed week to week in terms of training and I think that’s probably what’s likely to happen.”

With the Saints continuing to blood their new-look forward line of Paddy McCartin, Membrey and Josh Bruce, Kingsley said Riewoldt was likely to rotate between playing on a wing and up forward as needed.

The Saints were also impressed with their first look at key defender Jake Carlisle, who missed all of last season through suspension over the Essendon supplements saga.

“(He was) really impressive,” Kingsley said.

“He was able to nullify his opponents. Jake’s a really versatile player. He can play tall or small. I thought we saw all aspects of that tonight.”

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