The 30 year-old veteran (or geriatric in the eyes of the club’s juniors) is old enough to have linked-up with Mark Bairstow, Paul Couch and Garry Hocking, and now shares the midfield with the likes of Corey Enright, Steve Johnson and James Kelly.
So does the current crop have what it takes to match the champion Cat combination that took the club to four grand finals in seven years?
“For sure. Without a doubt,” Riccardi told afl.com.au
“The changeover in the midfield has been massive. We had champion players - Gary Ablett, Barry Stoneham, Garry Hocking. They were fantastic players. But I can see the kids now, (David) Spriggs, James Kelly and Steve Johnson coming up and they’re also going to be fantastic players.”
“Spriggsy was a big loss last year with his knee, and James Kelly is coming through this year. They’re going to be 200 to 250-game players at the club if they want to be.”
Riccardi’s run of injuries in 2001 signalled potentially ominous times for the 1998 best and fairest player. A strained thigh, fractured cheekbone and dodgy achilles tendon interrupted his year, and required careful rehabilitation.
It’s an all too familiar scenario for players to make comebacks only to re-injure themselves, but Riccardi rebounded imposingly.
In his most successful season since the late 1990s, he was Geelong’s second highest goalkicker, finished third in the best and fairest, led the Cats in kicks and scored the match-winning goal after the siren against Carlton in round 11.
“It was really satisfying. The medical staff managed my training, which was fantastic. They got me through the 22 games, and it was the first time in my career that I’d played the whole year.”
“That the injuries might keep troubling me did go through my head. But as years go by, you know your body and I’ve been playing for 25 years. If I don’t know my body by now, I never will.”
“I must be getting old, I’m not sure, but they tell me to go three-quarter pace (at training) now and it’s been pretty good.”
Whether or not he needed the reassurance, Riccardi showed last year that he could still cut it with the league’s best midfielders. And his 221 games worth of experience is of the utmost value to a club of players with an average age of 21.
“I hope I can play another couple of years with them and teach them some of my experiences. And hopefully they can get out of me, a bit of what I got out of Garry Hocking, Mark Bairstow and Paul Couch,” he said.
“I can still have a run through the midfield, I can still match them I reckon.”
Riccardi says he doesn’t actively mentor the Cats’ kittens, but is sure they would approach him about anything if they felt the need.
“If they want to come and have a chat with me there’s no doubt I’ll pass on my knowledge. My door’s open, but I don’t say ‘do this, do that’. It’s all up to them.”
“They know the game, they’re not silly. And they’re all pretty switched-on, they’re pretty smart young kids.”
Having enjoyed a full and injury-free preseason, Riccardi is set to at least match his 2002 season, even if it means spending a little less time in the middle and more up forward.
“I’ll probably play more up front. If ‘Bomber’ wants me to slot into the midfield every now and then, I’m more than willing to.”
“At the moment the body is feeling great. I haven’t missed a training session, my legs are feeling great.”
“It doesn’t matter where I play, I just want to be out there having a kick and enjoying myself.”
