Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has defended Jack Riewoldt's actions on the bench during Friday night's draw with St Kilda at the MCG as just an example of the young forward's passion for the game.
Riewoldt fell on his head in a marking contest early in the game and had to be helped from the field. Under the AFL's new guidelines, he was assessed for concussion and when the club's doctor informed Riewoldt that he would be substituted due to the injury, he erupted, pointing and shouting in the direction of Hardwick.
On a night with plenty of drama, Hardwick shrugged off the incident as just an example of how much playing for Richmond means to Riewoldt.
"That's his passion, that's why he is a good player," the coach said. "He is a passionate kid. He wanted to win the game. There's no doubt about that."
"At the end of the day, you don-t take that off him. That's what makes him a great player. If he loses that passion, he's not half the player he would be today."
The decision on whether to allow Riewoldt back on the field took some time, which only heightened the key forward's frustration. But Hardwick backed club doctor Greg Hickey's decision that Riewoldt wasn't fit to go on.
"The doc made a good call. At the end of the day, he wasn't right to come back on. From our point of view, we lose a good player. We lose a battle but we win a war. There's no point sending on a player that the doctor's made an informed decision about."
Hardwick felt the Tigers had let a golden opportunity to record a meaningful victory slip. Having gone 13 games without beating St Kilda, the Tigers dominated much of the game but were unable to record their first win over Victorian opposition since 2008.
"It feels like a loss. We're really disappointed to be honest. I know we come away with two points, but we feel that we-ve been in winning positions the last two games. I think people might think that where we've come from it's as good as a win, but it's unacceptable," he said.
Richmond were on the wrong end of two crucial umpiring decisions in the second half which could have changed the course of the game. The first was a mark which wasn't paid to Mitch Morton directly in front of goal
The second, and most contentious, was a decision to penalise Tiger defender Luke McGuane for rushing a behind in the final quarter which led to a goal to St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt.
But Hardwick refused to blame the umpires for the fact the Tigers failed to win, despite saying he felt both instances they had made mistakes.
"The umpires have got a very, vary hard job and I reckon they do a pretty good job. I think over the course of the night it was a tough game of footy to umpire and they did a pretty good job," he said.
"He probably made a mistake," he said in reference to the McGuane decision. "But we move on. End of the day (Stephen) Milne kicks 4.7. That never normally happens."