Jack Riewoldt — triple-premiership Tiger, three-time Coleman Medallist and modern Richmond great — is coming to Canberra
Photo: Richmond Football ClubFrom Bellerive to Triple-Flag Legend: Jack Riewoldt Comes to Canberra
Raylene Easton
7 May, 2026A Triple-Flag Tiger Comes to Canberra
Triple-premiership Tiger, three-time Coleman Medallist and one of Richmond's most beloved modern greats, Jack Riewoldt, is coming to Canberra as guest speaker at the Eastlake Football Club Business Luncheon. For Capital Tigers members, it's a rare chance to hear from a player who spent 17 seasons in the Yellow and Black, kicked 787 goals across 347 games, and helped transform Richmond from a struggling rabble into the defining dynasty of the modern AFL era. Riewoldt carried the Tigers' forward line through the lean years, the ridicule, the rebuilds and finally the glory. His story is our story — which is exactly what makes this luncheon unmissable.
A Tasmanian Kid with a Famous Surname
Born in Hobart on 31 October 1988 and raised in Bellerive, Jack grew up in a football-mad family. His father Chris played 298 games for Clarence and is a Tasmanian Football Hall of Famer. His first cousin, of course, is Nick Riewoldt, the St Kilda champion. But Jack carved his own path. He debuted in senior football at Clarence as a 16-year-old in 2005, kicking four goals in a losing grand final, before winning a Southern Football League flag a year later. After starring for the Tassie Mariners and Tasmania Devils VFL, Richmond stepped in at the 2006 National Draft, selecting him with pick 13 — the same draft that delivered the club Shane Edwards. Recruiter Francis Jackson saw the football smarts; sceptics saw a 195cm kid who wasn't quite quick enough. Richmond listened to Jackson.
A Career That Outlasted Three Rebuilds
Riewoldt debuted in Round 9, 2007 against Essendon at the MCG and never played for another club. He wore the No. 8 for 17 seasons, retiring in 2023 as Richmond's second-most capped player ever, behind only Kevin Bartlett's 403. His 787 goals sit third on the club's all-time list, trailing only Jack Titus (970) and Matthew Richardson (800), and place him 13th on the VFL/AFL's all-time goalkicking ladder. He won the Michael Roach Medal as Richmond's leading goalkicker 12 times — a record that may never be threatened. He kicked 50 or more goals in eight seasons and 40-plus in eleven.
The numbers tell part of the story. The era tells the rest. Drafted to a club that hadn't won a final since 2001, he endured wooden-spoon talk, elimination final collapses, and a 13th-placed finish in 2016 when he privately feared he'd retire without a flag.
Three Coleman Medals and a Tassie Swagger
Riewoldt won the Coleman Medal three times — 2010 (78 goals), 2012 (65) and 2018 (65) — joining Michael Roach as the only Tigers with multiple Colemans. His 2012 win came in storybook fashion, three behind the leaders entering the final round before kicking six to steal the medal. He was named All-Australian in 2010, 2015 and 2018 and claimed the Jack Dyer Medal as Richmond's Best and Fairest in 2010 and 2018. Add a 2008 Rising Star nomination, an International Rules cap in 2010, Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame induction in 2018, and a place in the Tasmanian Team of the Decade, and you have one of the most decorated key forwards of his generation.
A bull at the contest with an elite leap — Jumping Jack wasn't an accident of a nickname — he paired towering pack marks with a deadly set shot on either foot. His career-high 10 goals against West Coast in 2010 and 11.2 against GWS in 2014 remain the stuff of Tiger highlight reels.
The Flags That Changed Everything
Then came the dynasty. Riewoldt was vice-captain through all three premierships (2017, 2019 and 2020) and delivered on every grand final day.
In 2017, against Adelaide, he kicked 2 goals, took 6 marks and laid 7 tackles — a career-equal high that embodied Richmond's famous pressure. His leaping first-quarter mark over Jake Lever set the tone of the entire afternoon. Later that night, still in his playing gear, he bounded on stage at the MCG with The Killers to belt out 'Mr Brightside' — a moment now so woven into Tigers folklore it became the title of his 2023 memoir.
In 2019 against GWS, he was simply extraordinary: 5.1 — more goals than the entire Giants team (3.7) — the first player to outscore an opponent in a grand final since Jason Dunstall in 1988. He polled three Norm Smith votes behind Dusty. In 2020 at the Gabba, he added 2.2 and a crucial role stretching Geelong's intercept defence. Across three grand finals: 9 goals, six behinds, three premiership medallions. 'Nick deserves it more,' he said after the first, in one of football's great moments of family grace.
A Leader Who Earned It the Hard Way
Riewoldt's leadership wasn't gifted; it was forged. Fiery and combustible in his early years, he was dropped from Richmond's leadership group in 2014 and publicly challenged the club's game style. He later credited that slight with driving his maturation. He rejoined the group, became vice-captain from 2017, and evolved into one of the club's most respected voices. He survived a 2007 melanoma scare, four off-season surgeries in 2011, and a bleeding cornea in 2017 that ended an 86-game streak — and still played on at an elite level until 35.
He called time on 15 August 2023 and played his final game in Round 23 against North Melbourne at the MCG alongside retiring skipper Trent Cotchin — signing off with a goal, a trademark high mark, and a Richmond win.
Life After the Yellow and Black
Retirement hasn't slowed him. Riewoldt is now host of Fox Footy's flagship 'On The Couch' alongside Jonathan Brown, Jordan Lewis and Nathan Buckley, and a regular on AFL 360 and Super Saturday. He was the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Cup Ambassador, touring every state and territory. He co-founded Tasmanian freight company RGD Logistics and corporate leadership outfit Authentic Leaders Group, serves as a Culture & Impact Consultant for the Tasmania Devils, and continues his family's vital advocacy through Maddie Riewoldt's Vision, founded after the loss of his cousin Maddie in 2015. He and wife Carly have three children — Poppy, Hazel and Tommy — and he remains, proudly, a qualified chippie.
Why Canberra, Why Now
Jack Riewoldt speaks the way he played: with humour, heart and hard-won wisdom. His Eastlake luncheon appearance is a genuine coup for our region's footy community — the Demons fresh off breaking a 24-year premiership drought in 2025, and Capital Tigers members finally getting their triple-flag hero on home soil. Bring your questions about The Killers, the Colemans, the 2019 demolition — or just your jumper. Tigers fans, this one's for us.