Jack Riewoldt reveals finger surgery is holding him back after also undergoing an ankle reconstruction

Riewoldt had an operation to fuse together the middle joint in his little finger to help repair an injury he sustained 10 years ago.

The star full forward revealed the old injury had plagued him during the second half of this season and hampered his ability to hold the football.

One of the best set shot goalkickers in the game, Riewoldt did not boast his usual accuracy in front of goal late in the year — booting 24.14 before Round 10 compared to 24.20 after — and now we know why.

But while the initial operation to straighten his finger was a success, Riewoldt snapped the titanium plate used to fuse the joints together and was required to under more surgery three weeks later.

Despite the setback, Riewoldt expects it to have a positive impact on his game in 2017.

“The finger is probably the thing that’s holding me back at the moment,” Riewoldt said.

“You don’t want to make excuses for stuff but it became a real bit of an issue just with being able to hold the ball towards the end of the season.

“From just grabbing things at the moment I’m really confident with where it’s at.

“I’ve sneakily held the footy a few times with it now and I’m really comfortable with where it’s at and really excited about it too.”

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Riewoldt also underwent a surprise ankle reconstruction after being booked in for a clean-up and is yet to start running properly.

The 28-year-old has only just begun running on an anti-gravity machine and hopes to graduate to jogging laps at Punt Rd next week.

“It’s come on well,” Riewoldt told RSN of his recovery from ankle surgery. “I’ve started running ... there’s treadmills that can take your weight (off), so I’ve started running at 60 per cent of my body weight and progressed over the week up to 80 per cent and then hopefully next week I’ll be out just on the grass just having a bit of a slow trot around.”

Riewoldt will return for his eleventh season at Richmond without best mate and star utility Brett Deledio who was traded to GWS.

But the forward will be surrounded by three new faces — Dion Prestia, Josh Caddy and Toby Nankervis — who arrived at Punt Rd during the trade period.

While Riewoldt is sad to see Deledio move on, he rates this year’s trade period as Richmond’s best.

“They’re great,” he said of midfielders Prestia and Caddy. “But to lose Brett is really disappointing. He’s one of my best mates and to see him go was sad for me and for the footy club.

“On the flip side of that, to get two really bull midfielders, that’s the big thing for us.

“I think it’s probably one of the best trade periods we’ve had.”