IS NICK Riewoldt in career best form?
The question must be posed after the St Kilda captain produced another sterling performance on the weekend.
And this notion is not just based on his round 16 efforts, but over the past month, where he has been arguably best-on-ground against Fremantle, North Melbourne, Carlton and now Hawthorn.
In fact, over this period, he is entitled to be regarded as the most in-form player in the competition at the moment.
Riewoldt could quite conceivably have 12 Brownlow votes from these matches alone and not surprisingly, his red-hot form has coincided with four successive St Kilda wins – incidentally a first under coach Ross Lyon.
On Saturday night at Telstra Dome, Riewoldt was instrumental in St Kilda's stunning comeback victory over the highly-rated Hawks, booting the first two goals of the second half to kick-start the revival.
By the night's end, Riewoldt had six goals, 22 disposals and 10 marks and although that was a first-class achievement in itself, it was his tireless work-rate – yet again – that was telling in St Kilda's 30-point victory.
Riewoldt was duly named St Kilda's top man on the ground – receiving the gold medal as St Kilda's best in the Blue Ribbon Cup match. His efforts were not lost on coach Ross Lyon after the match.
"Clearly he was given the medal, so he led really well. His work-rate enables him to always contribute to the team and sometimes that work-rate will allow him to kick six, and sometimes it'll be three, but you know he'll always be there," Lyon said.
"He's a significant leader of this team, as is Lenny Hayes, and from there, everyone jumps in behind him.
"He won our best-and-fairest last year and in the pre-season he had a 16-week hamstring [injury] on and off … but I rate him highly nearly every week and his efforts are unquestioned and there's a reason why he carries the mantle at our club and that was self-evident [against Hawthorn], so he doesn't need me to talk about him."
Yet it's Lyon's last statement that is really interesting.
It's as if the coach doesn't need to highlight Riewoldt any further, as Lyon expects – and demands – the AFL community to understand what influence the skipper has on St Kilda and the competition.
And to suggest otherwise would be unwise.
Like when Lyon was probed about Riewoldt's 'improved' kicking, which has attracted scrutiny in the past, post-match against the Hawks.
"I think we make mountains out of molehills and he's a reasonable kick for goal. We all like to kick them and we all feel better when we put one through, so that's human nature," Lyon said.
"His body is in a lot better shape [than it was earlier in the year] and he had some significant medial [problems], so if you can't practice … it makes it hard to improve, so clearly he's put some work in and Nick's an absolute pro and he leads this club magnificently.
"Everyone else focuses on his kicking a helluva lot more than I do."
There's been no doubt about that. But like Lyon, perhaps it is time for the football fraternity to recognise the overall Riewoldt package instead.
