JACK Riewoldt says his on-field body language and attitude is a product of wearing his heart on his sleeve – not being petulant.
The Richmond forward was labelled "a prima donna" by Carlton premiership forward Mark Maclure after he was animated with teammates immediately after their one-point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium on Friday night.
North Melbourne premiership star David King said the Coleman medallist "complained and sooked and carried on".
The 24-year-old said he had become "thick skinned" as a result of playing football but believed he could be an "easy target" given "you can pick any bit of footage and crucify anyone with it".
"I'm an emotional person, I like to think that I'm loyal … I play with emotion and I reckon I'd be a pretty boring person and a pretty boring player if I didn't do that," Riewoldt said on Wednesday.
"It's a doubled-edged sword, AFL, and there's definitely cries for players to have a bit more personality but if you show a bit of personality you can be shot down pretty quickly.
"I'm an easy target, I know that, I'm a full forward, I play for Richmond, a massive football club in Melbourne – I'm definitely going to get targeted.
"It's the way I handle that and ultimately I listen to the people I care about the most and the people who are in charge of the club."
Maclure has since said Riewoldt's behaviour needs to be controlled by his teammates, but captain Trent Cotchin said the Tigers' leadership group had no issue with "the way he wears his heart on his sleeve".
"He's a passionate guy," Cotchin said.
"He loves the footy club and he loves playing footy. He's a fantastic person and we love playing with him.
"Whether or not people from the outside world think he's doing the wrong thing, we don't have any issues with the way he wears his heart on his sleeve.
"It's probably something you don't notice as much on-field. I think it comes across a little bit worse on TV."
Riewoldt conceded his one-goal, 10-possession performance against Fremantle wasn't at the "required standard" and that he was disappointed in his game.
But he said he hadn't been spoken to internally about his attitude and would continue to ignore media comment on it.
"The day that I start listening to what people in the media have got to say about my game and my attitude and my character is probably the day I retire," he said.
"I listen to Damien Hardwick, Brendon Gale, Trent Cotchin … ultimately I love the club, I respect my teammates and I respect the decisions the hierarchy of the club make.
"As far as I'm concerned and as far as they're concerned, they're pretty happy with how I'm going."
Riewoldt said while he was used to negative things being said in public forums, the impact it had on his loved ones was disappointing.
"You learn to become pretty thick skinned about what's said about you but it can definitely affect your family and I think that's where people have got to be really careful (about)," he said.
"What they are saying, it does have a bit of a waterfall effect and can affect the people in the general vicinity of the player and the loved ones of the player."
Cotchin said Riewoldt was playing an important role for the team and leading in his own way.
"You only have to look at the way he's been playing for the first five rounds of this year," Cotchin said.
"He's played a real selfless role at times for the team; he's let Ty Vickery take control and Luke McGuane's stepped up.
"He's always speaking and he's always giving direction to the younger guys and the forward line.
"He's doing a lot of things right and the impact he's having on the younger guys coming into the team is really good."
Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan.
Nathan Schmook is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nathan
