Coach Damien Hardwick said it gave the Tigers' forward line a sense of "unpredictability" without the bold target to aim at, allowing him to give Tyrone Vickery more responsibility while rotating midfielders through attack.
Midfielder Matt White said Riewoldt's absence, which was from midway through the first quarter, gave the Tigers new insight into their attacking ability.
"With Jack going down, it was good to see we still had options up forward," he told afl.com.au after the 95-point draw.
"We've got guys who can stand up.
"We can't complain that when he does go down
"We had a lot of run and carry, and Dusty [Martin] kicked three goals, so there were a lot of good signs coming from that."
The Tigers were gutted following the match after they held a two-point lead at the 32-minute mark of the final quarter that was then equalled by points to Daniel Archer and Stephen Milne.
"We've taken it a bit harder because we knew we had the game," White said.
"I think the belief around the club at the moment has completely changed from what it was 12 months ago, and we had the position, we were up and we let it slide in the end.
"We had the game and we stuffed it up. But, they're a grand final side from last year, so we know we're doing something right."
Club captain Chris Newman was notably distraught after the game and sat with his head in his hands, standing only for a brief radio interview before disappearing into the team meeting.
White said Newman was the "ultimate in leadership" and wore his heart on his sleeve.
"He takes everything hard and I think we all do, but he takes it harder than everyone else because he knows we're a good side," he said.
"Little things like tonight and last week do play on you, and on him, really bad.
"When we win, he's the opposite of that. He's up and about and happy. He loves the club, like we all do, but he just loves it a little bit more."
Despite the disappointment associated with the result, White said it was pleasing to see the culture of the side change to allow for brave repeated efforts like they showed throughout the four quarters.
"Even last week, we gave up a bit in the last quarter and they got a bit of a run on," he said.
"We addressed it last week and this week it was just to keep going, no matter what.
"Around the club, we all had the belief that even when we were down and there was five minutes to go, we were going to get that next goal and be up again."
Matt White is a $243,500 midfielder in this year's Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
