Nick Riewoldt
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Nick Riewoldt (born October 17, 1982) was the captain of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League for the 2005 season before being replaced by Luke Ball in 2006.
Early life/career
Born in Tasmania, Riewoldt grew up in Queensland as the son of Jack and was recruited from the Southport Football Club. He was drafted first overall in the 2000 AFL Draft and quickly became one of the league's brightest young stars after his 2001 debut.Rise to stardom
He won his first St Kilda Best and Fairest Award in 2002 and was the league's best first year player, winning the National AFL Rising Star Award. His breakout season was 2004, when Riewoldt lead in the league in total marks and also came in the top ten for both the Coleman and Brownlow medals. He received the AFL Players Association MVP award, the Leigh Matthews Trophy, and named to the All-Australian and International Rules teams.Riewoldt's season 04 was the best season by a young key position player since Wayne Carey in 93 and many wondered whether Melbourne was about to enter a decade long love affair with a player like Wayne "The King" Carey had in the 90's. Many saw Riewoldt as the league's best player at the end of the 04 season with respected scribes Mike Sheahan and Robert Walls placing him at Number 1 on their pre season lists.2005 season and hard times
He was later rewarded for his 2004 efforts when St Kilda named him their captain for 2005 as part of their rotating captaincy policy. Riewoldt's 2005 season began badly, as he broke his collarbone in the third quarter of the first regular season game against the Brisbane Lions. The incident drew controversy in Australia as he was bumped by opposition players as he slumped over holding his shoulder and in the vicinity of a trainer. After a brief return to playing later in the season, Riewoldt broke his collarbone again at the hands of aggressive treatment from opposition players. Riewoldt recovered in time to play in the 2005 finals series. However St Kilda were eliminated from the 2005 premiership race by the Sydney Swans in the penultimate game.Nick Riewoldt has been linked to Neighbours starlet Stephanie McIntosh from the beginning of 2005, after she was spotted at his hospital when he broke his collarbone. He was offered a role in a documentary that she is currently shooting.
2006
The pre-season saw Riewoldt typically under the heavy gaze of the spotlight with his kicking action under heavy examination after the troubles of 2005, where his inaccuracy continued. Riewoldt also dropped from number 1 to number 5 on respected journalist Mike Sheahan's Top 50 player's list in the Herald Sun paper in Melbourne.In early 2006 Riewoldt had returned to somewhere near his best highlighted by kicking 5 goals against former powerhouse Brisbane. This match seemed to have put Riewoldt's kicking "yips". However, these returned during the Round 7 match against Geelong when he missed a simple goal from 15 metres out. In the context of the match, the goal would have brought the Saints to within 8 points, but the miss destroyed Riewoldt's confidence and also quelled St Kilda's momentum, with Geelong taking the ball to the other end, increasing the margin to 19 points and sealing the game. In an ironic twist, Riewoldt had a shot on goal on the final siren and converted what many believed to be a difficult shot. marked and goaled from wide out. This disappointment was forgotten the next week as Riewoldt booted 9 goals against Carlton, taking many contested marks.
100 game milestone
In Round 9, Riewoldt, known as "Roo" (or, as his footy show colleagues have referred to him "the big blonde german obliterating machine") played his 100th game against the Roos, taking 11 marks and booting two goals in a tough game where coach Dean Laidley aiming to minimise his influence on the game.|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;"
External links
- [ profile] on [Saints.com.au]
- [ statistics] from [RLeague]
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