- Dane Swan has hit back at Nick Riewoldt
- Riewoldt claimed ‘rat pack’ undermined Nathan Buckley
- Swan says the great saints are misinformed
Dane Swan has criticized Nick Riewoldt after the St Kilda legend criticized former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.
Pies Great Swan, 40, was part of Collingwood’s infamous ‘Rat Pack’, which included Ben Johnson, Heath Shaw, Chris Tarrant and Alan Didak.
The quintet often got into trouble and Riewoldt claimed that Buckley’s ill-fated spell as coach of the Pies was largely due to his inability to handle the group.
“The reason he gets a bit of a bad rap as a coach is because a certain segment of Collingwood players like to pin it on him from time to time, the ‘Rat Pack’, they like to pin it on Bucks.” , Riewoldt said as he backed Buckley to coach the AFL’s new Tasmanian side.
‘(But he) would be a great signing: (a) footballer, a great personality and as a person he is very balanced.’
Nick Riewoldt (left) and Dane Swan (right) are engaged in a war of words
Swan taunted Riewoldt for losing the grand final after making a comment about the ‘rat pack’
But Swan has hit back at Riewoldt, claiming he doesn’t know what he’s talking about before turning his attack on the Saints Great.
“With all due respect, what the hell would Nick Riewoldt know about Nathan Buckley as a coach?” he said.
‘I don’t know if he got us… the ‘Rat Pack’ beat him in a grand final. Heath Shaw’s choke, one of the key leaders, smothered him and cost them the grandmother.
“How would he know unless Bucks fed him that.”
Swan added: “I have no doubt that Bucks would be a better coach now than he was when he first started because he has learned.”
Thomas and Shaw also discussed Riewoldt’s comments on the next Footy Talk podcast.
“That has nothing to do with why he gets a bad rap as a coach, but because most of the time his record hasn’t been that good as a coach,” Shaw said.
Thomas said: ‘I think the general public believes they (the ‘Rat Pack’) don’t like him because he’s not Mick Malthouse. But also because we thought there was an opportunity … to be in contention for three or five years like the Tigers.
“A lot of things have to go right, we all know that, but we thought we were in a window, so a lot of frustration and talking because that’s what it’s about rather than making it a personal agenda.”