Riewoldt admitted it was a “reasonable consideration” after meeting the Magpies president at his home for a chat. But Riewoldt, who played 336 games for the Saints from 2001-2017, said the lure of being a one club player was too great. “Eddie actually invited me over for a catch up, I thought to talk about the future and maybe doing a but of radio stuff,’’ Riewoldt said on Triple M’s The Rush Hour with JB & Billy.“He sat me down, we had a beer, we sat and had a Peroni, he said I’m not here to talk about your media or any of that, I want to talk to you about coming to Collingwood which at the time I hadn’t even considered. I took pride in being a one club player. “It was a good pitch. We spoke about the fact (there’d be) big crowds, big games at the G, all of that sort of stuff, it was clear that St Kilda was going through a rebuild. (He said) do you want to be there, is that how you want your career to finish, all of that sort of stuff.”Riewoldt said he heard again from McGuire just before he was boarding a plane to Texas after the grand final.“That weekend was grand final week and I was calling the game as a commentator. I did the game and Brian Lake won the Normy (Norm Smith Medal), first year at Hawthorn from the Western Bulldogs. “The next day I’m on the plane to go over to Texas. Just as I’m about to take off the text messages come through. Hey Rooey, it’s Eddie I know you’re about to take off for the states … while you’re sitting there for 14 hours this is what I want you to think about. And he’s listed the whole pitch. “It never got to that (money) because it was going to be similar. It was more about the opportunity and playing in big games. So for 14 hours what do you think I had to think about? “I got a fair way down the track thinking about it. It was a reasonable consideration.”Geelong champion Billy Brownless also told how he met with Brisbane Bears coach Robert Walls but was sternly told he’d need to change his lifestyle.He stayed with the Cats until coach Gary Ayres told him he wasn’t going to be offered another contract.“He goes righto Bill I’m going to be honest with ya, we’re not going to renegotiate your contract, you’re done, but we will do the right thing and say you’ve retired.”
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