Richmond star Jack Riewoldt says one of the Tigers’ main regrets this season has been their inability to at last give veteran skipper Chris Newman a chance to play AFL finals.
The Tigers are 12th in the ladder after a topsy-turvy season which has included some extremely unlucky losses.
They are desperate to finish the season on a high with wins over Essendon and Port Adelaide.
The Tigers are not qualified for a finals series since 2001.
“It is very, very disappointing for our group, no more than for Chris Newman,” Riewoldt said.
“This year we had a real focus to try and play finals for him – it’s obviously been well documented that he hasn’t played finals.”
The Tigers fell out of finals calculations after dropping three straight games to Gold Coast, North Melbourne and Carlton, all by less than a single goal.
“We sort of felt that we were good enough to play finals this year,” said Riewoldt.
“The ball bounces a couple of different ways those three weeks and we lose by a goal.
“We were probably right in the hunt to have a shot in September but unfortunately we’re in the position now where we can’t make it.”
However, Riewoldt said the club was still focusing on finishing off on a bright note, starting with the clash against Essendon on Friday night.
“It’s still a really big two weeks for the club,” he said.
“I’d like to think we can finish 11 and 11, and finish on an even scale of win and loss for the year.
“It’s something we haven’t done for a while.”
Riewoldt said Richmond would focus mainly on the closing two rounds, hoping to gain impetus for next year, rather than concentrating too much on the 2013 lead-up.
“If you even start thinking about pre-season, or round one next year or NAB Cup or anything like that, your focus goes away from what footy is actually about and it’s about Friday night for us,” he said.
“It’s about putting a side out on the park that can compete and hopefully coming away with a result.
“No doubt, if we can get a couple of wins over these next two weeks, it definitely puts us in good stead for next year and we can take a little bit of momentum into pre-season.”