Nick Riewoldt says Richmond star Jack Riewoldt will do everything possible to return to AFL action in time to play in the match played in honour of his beloved cousin Maddie.
The fourth edition of Maddie's Match will be played during round 10 on June 30 at Marvel Stadium, between the former St Kilda captain's side and Richmond, where cousin Jack Riewoldt plays.
Key forward Jack suffered a knee injury in round six in late April and Nick said on Tuesday he was hopeful of an early return for the annual fundraising fixture.
The star Tiger is currently back running and aiming to get enough work under his belt to play.
"I don't want to speak for him, but he's got it pencilled in as he's really ambitious in wanting to get back because it does mean a lot to be able to play on that day," Nick Riewoldt said.
If he wasn't able to play, Nick hoped to recruit him to his "team" to line up against an All-Star contingent of former players led by former Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown in a series of fun challenges that will be held at the match.
Nick Riewoldt said the charity set up in honour of his late sister - Maddie's Vision - had already saved young lives.
Riewoldt's sister died in 2015, aged just 26, of the rare blood disorder Aplastic Anaemia.
In four years it's raised over $7 million and is funding 15 different projects.
Riewoldt said he'd seen the lives that it had changed.
"Because it was a really under-resourced area there was a lot of low-hanging fruit we could throw some money towards so we've had some tangible results in a short period of time," Riewoldt said.
"There were a couple of young kids recently that were misdiagnosed for a long period of time and because of the work we've been able to do in genomics all of a sudden they were diagnosed, their treatment paths were altered and they are now in remission."
Australian Associated Press
