During their time in America, James, Will and Teddy embraced baseball and American football, joining local clubs and playing competitively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riewoldt believes junior sport in Australia has become too focused on neutralising winners and losers, losing some of what makes competition valuable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since returning in late 2024, he has rejoined Channel 7 as an analyst while his sons now play junior football in Melbourne.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘They miss it (the American sport), for sure,’ Riewoldt said.<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/106559945-15579297-image-a-6_1771633318524.jpg\")
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Nick Riewoldt says American junior leagues celebrate victories with ring ceremonies and competitive traditions kids genuinely love<\/p>\n
![\"Now](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/106559943-15579297-image-a-7_1771633321384.jpg\")
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Now back in Melbourne, Riewoldt says his children miss the intensity and structure of US youth sport<\/p>\n
‘They loved playing American football, they loved playing baseball.<\/p>\n
‘And kids’ sport over there – I’m happy to say it – I felt like it was a better experience. It felt like real sport.<\/p>\n
‘The over-emphasis here on participation, and everyone gets a trophy… over there, they keep score, they have ring ceremonies, and the kids love that stuff.<\/p>\n
‘We had some of the most incredible sporting experiences over there where all the parents were all in.<\/p>\n
‘I don’t know, I just felt like coming back here, playing under-10s footy and we don’t keep score, I don’t know. At least my kids, they don’t resonate with that as much as they did with the sports in the US.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Riewoldt, a\u00a0five-time All-Australian who\u00a0holds the all-time record for most marks in VFL\/AFL history, said kids were keeping score anyway and that Australian junior sporting leagues should show them more respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I think kids that age should be treated with a bit more maturity,’ he added.<\/p>\n
‘We don’t want to lose the element of fun and make them get too serious too quickly, but at the same time, kids know the score, kids keep score.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/106559875-15579297-image-a-1_1771632986503.jpg\")
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The former St Kilda Football Club captain insists children deserve to be treated with greater sporting maturity<\/p>\n
![\"Riewoldt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/106559873-15579297-image-a-2_1771632988428.jpg\")
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Riewoldt praised St Kilda\u2019s aggressive pre-season recruiting, backing bold moves to shift the club\u2019s fortunes<\/p>\n
‘They know exactly at the end of the game whether they’ve won or lost, so why do we pretend like that’s not a thing?’<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Riewoldt, who played 336 games and booted 718 goals for St Kilda, has praised his old club for its aggressive approach to the AFL pre-season.<\/p>\n
‘I loved it, I loved the off-season,’ Riewoldt said.<\/p>\n
‘When you only have so many levers at your disposal to pull to try and change your fortunes, why not be aggressive?<\/p>\n
‘I think the players that they’ve invested in – probably with the exception of Silvagni and Ryan, who have been around for a long time – Flanders, De Koning, Nas, they’ve all got their best footy in front of them.<\/p>\n
‘I like the approach, I like the aggressive nature of it.’<\/p>\n
And Riewoldt said he was loving being part of the AFL commentary team again after his stint in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I just love being a part of Thursday night footy, the big games, big crowds,’ the former Saints captain said.<\/p>\n
‘Despite being out of the game for close to a decade, it’s still a rush to be out there, feel the energy when teams run through the banner and you’re standing there with a microphone in your hand. I do really look forward to that.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL legend Nick Riewoldt says he has been left frustrated by aspects of junior sport since returning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,100,647,588,85,3370,1055],"class_list":["post-493903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-dailymail","tag-melbourne","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}