Can Jack Riewoldt win the Coleman Medal
At the start of the season Jack Riewoldt was paying around $125 to win the 2010 Coleman Medal and to be honest, you’d had to have been a pretty die-hard tigers fan to put money on him then and given him a chance. Fast-forward to Round 12 and Jack Riewoldt is currently sitting equal 4th on the AFL Goal kicking table with Jonathan brown and his odds have shortened to $11.
So can Jack Riewoldt win the Coleman Medal? Let’s find out…
Yes
Riewoldt can win the Coleman medal in 2010 and here’s why.
First up, in the post-Richo days, Riewoldt is now the Tiger’s only forward option. If you look at the goal kicking list Richmond doesn’t have another player in the top 50. After Jack Riewoldt the next Tiger’s player is Nahas with just 10 goals. Which means Jack is going to get the bulk of the Tiger’s shots on goal for the entire season. So far he’s had 57 shots at goal, which is more than Jonathan Brown and only 3 less than league leader Matthew Pavlich. With so few forward options for the tiger’s, a team who are unlikely to change their game-plan, you can’t see Jack Riewoldt getting less shots on goal as the season continues, if anything his shots per game will increase.
Secondly Riewoldt’s coversion percentage at 61% isn’t great yet he’s still ranked 4th in goals for the season. If he can bring that percentage up another 5% to match the best goal kickers in the AFL then he’ll be challenging for top spot. Even against a defensive team like St Kilda in Round 11, Jack Riewoldt managed to kick six goals. But he also kicked 3 behinds which means he could of had nine goals for that match!
Riewoldt is going to attract the best defensive backman in each opposition team the Tigers face now, but after a few years of training he’s now got the size and strength to pose a problem for many defenders and can arguable challenge any full-back in the league in a one on one contest.
Given that he’s a young still-developing forward, all it will take is for Pavlich, Brown, or Fev to have a poor game and Jack riewoldt will be right there, ready to kick another bag of goals and take top spot for the 2010 Coleman Medal.
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