The Saints led by 37 points at quarter-time and looked set to record an easy victory until the Dogs’ midfield got their act together to outgun their opponents, eventually running out easy 38 point winners.
The reaction was swift and brutal from the media and fans, with questions being asked of several senior players, including Robert Harvey, Nick Dal Santo and Fraser Gehrig ahead of Saturday’s blockbuster against Geelong at Telstra Dome.
But at Tuesday’s press conference at Linen House Oval, a relaxed Riewoldt said such a loss needed to be taken in context.
“Hopefully it was an aberration, I think we’ve played six games so far this year and we’ve played three bad quarters of footy, so you’ve got to put it in perspective,” Riewoldt said.
“We’ve debriefed the game very thoroughly, we know what we’ve got to do, we know what we did wrong and we’re now looking forward to next week coming up against the benchmark of the competition.
“It was unusual for us as a team, it’s not what we want to stand for, but it wasn’t the defence’s fault, it was the teams’ defensive faults and we know that and we’re looking forward to turning that around.”
Riewoldt said the team was doing its best to ignore the negative reaction to the loss.
“Yeah we have (copped it) but the important thing is to put it in perspective and sometimes that can get a bit lost. We realise footy’s an opinion business and people are going to have theirs and they’re entitled to it,” he said.
“We’ve been there, done that (using criticisms as motivation) and what spurs us on as players is to improve on our performance.”
While the fallout from the trouncing has been significant, the newly appointed sole skipper said the various accusations levelled at Harvey and Dal Santo were bewildering and naive.
“I think people tend to overreact in a circumstance like this. Harves went through it earlier in the season and you just underestimate great players like Dal at your own peril,” Riewoldt said.
“Harves is a resilient character and a very strong man. Robert Harvey wasn’t the reason St Kilda lost on Friday night. Dal Santo wasn’t the reason St Kilda lost on Friday night. It was a team effort and it was a poor team effort, and we know we’ve got to turn that around this week.”
Riewoldt said he was “surprised” by the allegations made by Bulldog Jason Akermanis toward Robert Harvey, but said that he understood the matter had been resolved.
Another allegation levelled at St Kilda has been around the use of three tall forwards – which some suggest makes them top-heavy – but Riewoldt refutes the claim.
“I don’t think anyone was questioning whether it would work at quarter-time on Friday night.”
Indeed, by that stage, the trio appeared to be operating harmoniously, with Justin Koschitzke dominating, Riewoldt looming ominously and Gehrig taking Brian Lake out of play.
But Riewoldt believes things started to go awry when the Bulldogs began to win the midfield battle and exhibited a greater level of intensity.
“Clearly we need to be a lot harder, and we need to win contested ball,” he said.
“You can’t expect to win games serving up what we were serving up on Friday night. That’s what our focus is on this week.”
The Saints looked like they needed an extra set of hands in the ruck and in defence last week, and Riewoldt confirmed both Michael Gardiner and Matt Maguire were in contention to play against the Cats – but only if they are 100 per cent fit.
“(Maguire’s) strung a few together but I think at this stage of the year I think it’s important we don’t rush those guys back. He’s come off of a pretty harrowing few years with his injuries,” Riewoldt said.
“It’s important we take a conservative approach. He might play this week but I’m not too sure either way.
“I think with Michael (Gardiner) as well, he’s been very similar with his injuries, so I’d expect him to play, but if he’s any doubt I don’t think they’ll take too many risks.”
