Gardiner took two crucial contested marks and kicked a goal to win the game for St Kilda on Sunday, which was also his 30th birthday.
“He hasn’t taken his second chance just based on last night’s game,” Riewoldt said of Gardiner.
“I think he’s been good for us all year and he has gone through a pretty rough journey with his body and a few other things but ever since he walked through the door at the club he has been really committed and people probably forget what a great player he was back in 2003 through to 2005 and he is starting to recapture some of that form now which is terrific for us.”
The Saints are the only undefeated team after knocking off Geelong on Sunday.
While Riewoldt is hardly getting carried away with the celebrations, he says the challenge was invaluable for his side.
“It’s always difficult to know until you come up against the benchmark teams. We’ve been able to meet every challenge before that so it was nice to come up against a really quality outfit and be competitive for the whole night which we were,” he said.
“The game could have gone either way in the end and the result - while it is always nice to get the points I don’t think it would have really affected the [lessons] we took out of the game and the fact that we’ve still got a lot of improving to do in the last eight rounds of the season.”
The pre-match hype was enormous and Riewoldt admitted it had been tough to concentrate on different opponents each week knowing Geelong was on the horizon.
“Most guys would have reflected last night on what was a pretty big week. The build-up was huge, it was finals-like I suppose with the exposure and even the three or four weeks preceding that with the media focus it was difficult at times to stay focussed every week on your opposition for that week,” he said.
“To come through that month of speculation and pressure was good. The result could have gone either way but the way we went about it was most pleasing.”
