The 2011 ‘Dreamtime at the G’ game marks the fourth anniversary of star Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt’s senior league debut.
Riewoldt, who was Richmond’s first pick (No. 13 overall) in the 2006 AFL National Draft, received the call-up from the Tiger selectors for the 2007 Dreamtime clash following a series of impressive performances at VFL level with Coburg.
The Tigers’ champion forward of the day, Matthew Richardson, had suffered a fractured eye socket in a clash with the Adelaide Crows the previous week, which was expected to sideline him for several weeks, paving the way for Riewoldt’s selection.
‘Richo’, however, defied all the odds by taking his place in the Richmond team and producing an inspirational four-goal performance, subsequently rated one of the 10 bravest individual acts in the Club’s league football history.
The debut selection of the 18-year-old cousin of St Kilda champion centre half-forward Nick Riewoldt, attracted considerable media publicity.
Young Jack had to share centre stage at that 2007 Dreamtime press conference with the wily old fox, Kevin Sheedy, who was in his final season of coaching Essendon, and in vintage form dealing with the media . . .
“It’s a scary game, Jack,” Sheedy joked.
“There’ll be 70,000 there. You’ll be sweating before you even get to the ground.”
When Riewoldt said that the biggest crowd he had ever played in front of was 11,000 in Tasmania, Sheedy quipped, “Are you feeling nervous yet?”
But Riewoldt, even back then, wasn’t the slightest bit fazed by the occasion . . .
“When I came into the changing room and saw my name on a locker for our training run, it just made me feel really part of it,” he said.
Jack went on to say that advice from his big cousin, Nick, had been helpful in preparing for his debut.
“I spoke to Nick last week… he’s been pretty supportive,” Riewoldt said.
“He only lives two minutes down the road from me. He’s been like a big older brother. He said just go out there and be yourself. Just play like you did when you were playing under-10s in Tassie. Hopefully, it will be a better standard, though,” he joked.
The young Tiger added that comparisons to his famous cousin didn’t bother him.
“I’ve got used to it. Nick’s been in the system six years now and obviously he’s such a high-profile player, so I’ve always had those sorts of comparisons, especially in the last few years playing VFL. I’m not too conscious about it,” he said.
“We’re completely different players and completely different people. I’m just going to go out there and concentrate on what the coaching staff want me to do.”
Incredibly, given how frequently Jack has set the MCG alight in the four years since then, he admitted at that press conference that his only previous trip to the famous ground had been to watch a Carlton-Collingwood game.
“I’ve only been to the one game here, sat up in the old cement grandstand down that end of the ‘G’, and that was a pretty good experience,” he said.
It was to be a fairly inauspicious debut by the young Tassie Tiger, however.
He had just two kicks, three handballs, two marks and two tackles as Richmond lost a thrilling Dreamtime contest by eight points - 12.20 (92) to 12.12 (84).
Riewoldt was dropped back to the VFL the next week, but returned to the senior line-up later in the season and, four years on, is arguably (although no arguments from those of the Yellow and Black persuasion) the best key forward in the caper.
