‘‘Now he’s got that out of the way he no longer carries that load the way he’s led that young forward line. I’m so proud of him but I won’t lie, there’s envy on my side.’’ Jack Riewoldt heads into his second successive preliminary final at the MCG next Friday having acknowledged that the 2018 season has seen him play his most consistent football. He has also won his third all-Australian blazer and his third Coleman Medal and, at 29, is acknowledged as one of the game’s greats. With Dylan Grimes, he is probably equal favourite to capture his second Jack Dyer Medal having captured the essence of striking an ominous influence on games whether or not he kicks goals — the qualifying final against Hawthorn, where he kicked none was a case in point. Nick Riewoldt’s view is that Jack at heart has never really changed but that the secret to his ‘‘incredible 24 months’’ has been in the manner the Richmond forward has channelled his passion into leadership - a passion that was not lost on soon-to-be Tiger Tom Lynch when he met the club’s on field leaders earlier this year. Like all of his teammates at the end of 2016, Jack came clean regarding his frailties and disappointments but he has been heartfelt publicly, too. Not least when describing a sense of embarrassment when he first caught up with Nick after becoming a premiership player.

In an interview on 3AW Riewoldt last month described their ‘‘awkward conversation’’ due to his feeling that what he had achieved should have been due his revered cousin, who came so close on two occasions.

I’m so proud of him but I won’t lie, there’s envy on my side. Nick Riewoldt ‘‘I don’t know if awkward’s the right word,’’ recalled Nick of that meeting. ‘‘We caught up the week after the game for dinner — and Jack knows I still find watching grand finals pretty tough — and I just really wanted to know how he felt. How did it feel now for him? ‘‘I’d just built it up so much in my mind over the years what it must be like to cross over to that place and I was really interested from his point of view. He tried to explain how it felt but I could tell he was playing it down.’’ The secret to Riewoldt’s leadership over this successful era goes beyond his organisation of the small, young forward line around him and the sacrifices he has made on and off the field but extends to his strong support of Trent Cotchin — support that was not always forthcoming in the past. Jack Riewoldt has been a strong supporter of captain Trent Cotchin. Credit:AAP

The differences between the two young men were underlined after the Tigers’ 57-point elimination final thrashing from Port Adelaide in 2014, a defeat kick-started after Cotchin won the toss and elected to kick into a strong wind. In the Virgin Lounge at Adelaide Airport that September night four years ago Riewoldt, who had played quite well, was seated with the majority of his teammates drinking beers near the bar leading a relatively cheerful card game. Cotchin sat some distance away brooding in a corner with Bachar Houli and Ivan Maric. A retired famous club premiership captain did not like what he saw, pointing out loudly that Cotchin should have been sitting with his teammates having a beer. What has changed at Richmond since then is that Cotchin remains the quieter, nurturing leader — albeit a relentless inside ball-winning midfielder — and Riewoldt still the more exuberant extroverted key forward. If Cotchin dedicated his efforts in 2017 to pushing Dustin Martin towards the Brownlow, then Riewoldt and to a lesser degree his sometimes quirky co-vice-captain Alex Rance changed their leadership style to help Cotchin, who was appointed Richmond captain at 22. In the past the more introverted and earnest Cotchin was known to lose patience with his emotional key forward and vice versa. The difference between the two was that Riewoldt’s frustration was there for all to see while Cotchin was known in the early days to go into his shell.

At the core he’s just the same person he’s always been but externally the perception has changed. Nick Riewoldt ‘‘He’s learned to channel that passion and emotion,’’ observes cousin Nick of Riewoldt. ‘‘At the core he’s just the same person he’s always been but externally the perception has changed because he’s put all those characteristics into leadership. ‘‘Sometimes he’d do things and I’d be like 'come on Jack ... seriously?’ I’d just shake my head. Now there’s just the odd little bit of body language and if I catch one little thing I’ll pass on something. I’ll be that influence. ‘‘The difference is it’s not a pattern of behaviour any more.’’ Nick Riewoldt of the Saints (centre) is chaired from the ground by his cousin Jack Riewoldt of the Tigers and Saints teammate Josh Bruce. Credit:AAP

And yet Damien Hardwick bristled recently when Riewoldt kicked 10 against the Gold Coast. perhaps concerned that he might start aiming for the Coleman or that his admiring young teammates might start focusing on him. But Riewoldt is no longer the player who could barely watch the likes of Barry Hall or Tom Hawkins in late-season games when vying for earlier Colemans. Not everyone at St Kilda liked it when Riewoldt helped carry his cousin from the MCG after Nick’s last AFL game in round-23 last year but that gesture was embraced by the Saints players in acknowledgement of the connection between the two — a connection channelled into Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision and the game between the two clubs in her honour. Riewoldt’s return to Richmond’s leadership group was not announced until the eve of the 2017 home-and-away season after a new leadership program had been installed at the club led by Shane McCurry after senior players — and notably Riewoldt — had clashed with his predecessor, the Leading Teams co-founder Gerard Murphy. Overlooked controversially over previous seasons, the view was that for Richmond to succeed the infectious if at times frustrating Riewoldt had to be brought into the top echelon. It was a view driven by coach and management and ultimately embraced by his teammates with the key driver that his job was to help Cotchin become a better captain. Volumes have been written about Cotchin’s growth as a leader over the past two seasons, an achievement underlined by the fact he did not make the top five club captains in the eyes of the MVP voting last year and this year — while not all-Australian like his two vice-captains — but was named the best captain in the AFL by peers across all clubs.