ALWAYS, the four points cover the cracks. Nick Riewoldt's darkest demon - the yip - came back to haunt him. But when his team is munching on a pedestrian Western Bulldogs, as it did at Etihad Stadium, the problem, apparently, is not so much of a problem.
This is not an assassination on one of the game's best, for his presentation, agility and marking was awesome last night, yet you don't have too look too far back to realise the importance of kicking goals.
Brendan Fevola on Saturday lost the game for Carlton afer missing a set shot from 20m. At the same time, he almost won it by kicking eight goals. But very few people will remember the eight, including the man himself.
Then there was the GF.
Geelong undid any chance of beating Hawthorn by choking in front of the sticks. It's history now, but a handful of Cats would still wake up shivering, wondering what if.
and so on
Thirty-two times St Kilda entered their forward 50 in the first half and 13 times they directed it at Riewoldt. Adam Schneider was next with two. By game's end, Riewoldt had it pumped to him 17 times from 56 entries. The next best was Stephen Milne and Jason Koschitzke at three.