Riewoldt found himself in the papers for all the wrong reasons this week as he opened his gob without thinking and told reporters the Tigers had been attempting to copy Hawthorn's game plan but lost their way in the process in a disastrous start to the season.
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A clearly unhappy Hardwick responded with some of the best quotes seen from an AFL coach in some time as he threatened to drop Riewoldt and said: "We've caught up with him this morning, we removed his foot from his mouth and my foot from his arse."
Hardwick, though, didn't cut off his nose to spite his face and left Riewoldt in the team for Saturday's 113-point demolition of the Giants.
And one imagines the coach was pretty happy with the decision as Riewoldt responded by becoming just the fourth Richmond player to score 11 goals in a match.
"I was pretty devastated with how it came across, I let the coach down, I let the side down," Riewoldt told Fox Sports straight after the game.
"Today I just came in with the mindset of just trying to repay the faith back in (Hardwick) and the boys and the footy club.
"I am just happy with the performance, really really happy that the football club has the four points and looking forward to playing Essendon at Dreamtime next week
Riewoldt scored all his goals by three-quarter time as he equalled Michael Roach's efforts of scoring 11 goals on two occasions against Footscray (1980) and Hawthorn (1985).
The 25-year-old appeared likely to equal Jack Baggott's 12 goals against Hawthorn in 1928 and possible even challenge Doug Strang's 1931 Richmond record of 14 goals against North Melbourne, but Riewoldt ended up going goalless in the final term.
In an amazing effort that equalled West Coast forward Josh Kennedy's performance against the Giants almost two weeks ago, Riewoldt kicked 11 straight before booting his first behind.
And, he also gave up the opportunity to kick his 12th goal when he opted to pass to Trent Cotchin, despite being just 15 metres from goal on an angle.
"For him to actually come back and give the ball to Cotchin I think late when he could have kicked more goals is probably testament to the kid he is," declared Hardwick.
"He got a kick in the backside last week but we move on pretty quick and he answered in the best way possible."