St Kilda set to honour retiring Riewoldt

Jul 31, 2017 - 5:31 PM Minutes after Nick Riewoldt broke his retirement news to teammates, it became St Kilda's theme for the rest of this AFL season.

Saints coach Alan Richardson wants them to honour Riewoldt appropriately over the next month.

Three-straight losses have put a huge dent in the Saints' finals aspirations, with the team sitting a game plus percentage outside the top eight.

The club's last finals appearance was 2011 but regardless of where they finish, Richardson wants the players to finish the season with Riewoldt in mind.

As soon as the 34-year-old made his announcement to the team on Monday morning, Richardson had the squad reflecting on the centre half-forward's 17-year career.

"As a playing group, what can that mean for you (players)?," Richardson said.

"If it is that you had the opportunity for four weeks to play in a spirit that he would respect, what would that mean?

"There were no answers, there were no solutions, but yeah, I would hope the players would think about that."

Riewoldt confirmed his pending retirement on Monday afternoon in a packed media conference at the Saints' Seaford headquarters.

The former captain made it clear, without addressing the next month specifically, that he wants to go out a winner.

"It seems a bit ridiculous that this has been a job for 17 years - it's just been so much fun," he said.

"As fun as it's been ... once you cross that line, it becomes all about winning.

"Clearly premierships are the business we're in and winning is the business we're in.

"So everything has always been with an eye to achieve that and as much as anyone, I've hated losing."

The next big decision for the Saints will be the playing future of Riewoldt's great friend Leigh Montagna.

The utility is nursing a hamstring injury and the Saints will probably have to make the finals for Montagna to play again this season.

But there was no way that Riewoldt was going to comment on whether Montagna might also retire this year.

"Clearly the decisions are mutually exclusive and I've been the subject of speculation for the last three or four months," he said.

"I'm not about to go and do the same thing to my best ,mate, we'll leave it at that."

Source: AAP