ST KILDA forward Nick Riewoldt is unperturbed by all the fuss about his final-quarter tactic that gifted the Saints a 50m penalty and goal in the nine-point win over Fremantle on Sunday.

With under seven minutes remaining in the game and four points separating the sides, Riewoldt made a certainty of a Tim Membrey goal by duping umpire Curtis Deboy into paying a 50m penalty.

Riewoldt raised his arms and called for the ball from Griffin Logue, only to stand back as the Dockers defender hurled the ball in his direction.

The champion forward then appealed to the umpire, who paid a 50m penalty for not returning the ball on the full and to the correct player.

Riewoldt said the tactic was perhaps a sign of his 330 games of experience at the elite level.

"That sort of thing happens a fair bit – most weeks, to be honest – it's just that players are generally pretty aware of the rules and don't really fall for it," Riewoldt told Channel Seven on Monday night.

"But I understand some people will think it was smart, some people wouldn't have liked the looked of it and that's OK, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

"I guess that's one of the positives of playing for 17 years – your game awareness. One of the negatives is your body starts to fall apart."

The resultant 50m penalty gifted Membrey a goal from point-blank range, handing the Saints a two-point lead.

Umpire Deboy was captured on the broadcast instructing Logue to pass the ball "to Tim Membrey, please", before paying a 50m penalty when it failed to reach its intended target.

Student of the game as an old coach would say! https://t.co/7lYHBKFYUt — Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) July 3, 2017

Saints coach Alan Richardson said Riewoldt's act of deception could be viewed as smart play and not a case of bad sportsmanship.

"From a coach's perspective, when someone picks up the ball (and) he's your player you're saying, 'Hey mate, you've got to make sure that goes back to the person' and particularly when the umpire tells you who it goes back to," Richardson told Fox Footy on Monday night.

"Call it what you will, it was very clever by 'Rooey'.

"I've seen the vision and now have an understanding that the younger fella perhaps admires Rooey and he's listening to Rooey, not the umpire. Who knows?"

On his player profile on fremantlefc.com.au, Logue reveals he barracked for St Kilda as a youngster and names Riewoldt as the player from another club he most likes to watch, his all-time favourite player and his favourite sporting hero.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon claimed on AFL.com.au's Access All Areas that Riewoldt's sneaky act was akin to a player staging.

"I don't see it a hell of a lot differently to a player staging for a free kick, that's the category I put that into," Lyon said on Monday.