The Hawks may have finished four games higher but the Saints have featured in four of the past five finals campaigns, which Riewoldt said could be a factor.
“That’s why I think it’s called experience. If you don’t learn from every situation then it’s a wasted experience,” Riewoldt said.
“So we’ve learned there’s six (St Kilda players) that have played less than 30 games so it’ll be their first preliminary final. I’m not sure whether us having that bit of knowledge and being able to impart a bit of advice on those younger guys will help in any way, but you do learn from every experience.”
Riewoldt says 2008 had brought a renewed enthusiasm around the club with so many young players coming on the scene.
“We’ve been able to grow and develop some young players because there was I think maybe a bit of a dry patch there for a few years where we didn’t have too many kids coming through but it’s been terrific for the club this year,” he said.
Riewoldt struggled in the first week of the finals against Geelong but returned to form with five goals and a best on ground performance against Collingwood in the semi-final.
And while the Saints skipper would not be drawn on his personal performance, he said the team as a whole felt it had a point to prove.
“I think collectively we were poor against Geelong and collectively we were equally as good against Collingwood,” he said.
“We know as a team we need a weight of numbers performance every week if we’re going to threaten in any game. We learned some lessons during the year travelling over to West Coast and things like that where we dropped games that we should have won. On the weekend we had 22 guys that were desperate to win and that reflected in the result.”
