Exciting Richmond key forward Jack Riewoldt will not only be looking to put one over his cousin and champion St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt for the first time when the two teams meet at Etihad Stadium on Sunday night but also bury the ghosts from this same fixture last year.

Riewoldt - who has played just 36 games but is already shaping, along with Mitch Morton, as the long-term successor to long-time Tigers' spearhead Matthew Richardson - found himself in the position all footballers dread when these two teams met last year.

The Tigers had fought gallantly all night against a St Kilda side they have not beaten since 2003 but as the final siren sounded, with the Tigers trailing by three points, Riewoldt marked the ball but faced an almost impossible task to win the game for his team considering he was about 70 metres from goal.

The 20-year-old gave it everything he had but his kick landed about 10 metres short as cousin Nick consoled him after the final siren.

Jack said on Thursday he has put that disappointment behind him and is looking forward to meeting the Saints for the first time since that fateful night.

"It was just the situation I found myself in," he said of his agonising kick after the siren in last year's game.

"I was a fair way out but we played well that night although we didn't come away with the points so hopefully this year we can put up the same effort as last year but this time get a win."

The Saints have won their past 10 matches against Richmond - their best ever winning streak against the Tigers - and few believe that streak will come to a halt this week.

While the Tigers have been revitalised since the departure of coach Terry Wallace - with stand-in coach Jade Rawlings winning his first game in charge against West Coast - St Kilda has enjoyed its best ever start to a season and remains unbeaten after 12 rounds.

And in conceding an average of just 61 points per game this season, the Saints are also on track to produce the best defensive performance ever by a team in a 22-game season.

Riewoldt admits it will be a tough task for the Tigers' young forward line on Sunday night, particularly with Richardson and fellow veteran Nathan Brown still sidelined.

"Mitch (Morton) is the oldest person in the forward line (at just 22) and they (St Kilda) are a great defensive unit so it will be a good challenge for a young group to go out there and try to kick a winning score."

The Tigers managed to do that against the Eagles in their last outing, in Rawlings' first game in charge, as Riewoldt found himself on the receiving end of a blast from the Tigers' new coach at three-quarter time after having missed an easy set shot late in the third term.

But Riewoldt laughed off his first run-in with Rawlings, with the pair actually being quite close considering they played together for Tasmania in the VFL in 2006 when Rawlings was in his last year as a player with North Melbourne while Riewoldt was a teenage hopeful.

"He rides me a bit harder than perhaps what some other people get because we are old team-mates but generally we are pretty tight, having played together in Tassie when I was just 17," Riewoldt said.

"Obviously my goalkicking last round was not up to scratch and I missed that shot before three-quarter time but it (Rawlings' blast) was more reassurance rather than stern words."