Fremantle Dockers star Shai Bolton asked to ‘lift’ by former St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt

Fremantle’s star recruit of 2025, Shai Bolton, has been asked to “lift” as the Dockers put their campaign on the line against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

Friday’s loss to the Lions has left the Dockers needing a win at Marvel Stadium if they are to avoid watching their season crumble to dust for the second year running.

The Agenda Setters panellist and former star St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt turned the blowtorch on premiership Tiger Bolton, who was the club’s major arrival over the off-season, with fans hoping he could elevate the contending club closer to premiership status.

Bolton averaged 18.4 disposals, 326 metres gained and 11.7 ranking points through rounds one to 18; however, in the last four weeks, his numbers have slipped to 16.6 disposals, 247 metres gained and just 5.6 ranking points.

He went goalless against the Lions, compounding a difficult night where he failed to crack double digits in disposals.

“There are some within the group that need to lift, and one of those is Shai Bolton,” Riewoldt said on Monday night.

“He was recruited for times like this and for Fremantle to be able to take that next step.

“You look at his disposals over the last month, and they’re pretty similar (to the first 18 weeks), but the impact has completely dried up for him.

“He’s not impacting forward of centre, he’s not impacting with ball in hand. He was hitting the scoreboard consistently, that’s disappeared from his game.

“They just need a lift, plain and simple.”

Fellow panellist Kane Cornes was more sympathetic to the forward’s plight but said he needed to find a way to “dig in” during lean patches.

“He looks great when it’s working for him and he’s getting it on the fly or getting it at speed and hitting the pack,” he said.

“But he’s got to dig in when things aren’t going his way, and that’s hard to do, but he’s got to find a way to impact when it’s just not his day, which, sometimes, is the life of a small forward.”

Riewoldt suggested Fremantle could kick-start Bolton with deliberate feeds to give him the best chance to impact the contest.

“The game looks different when the ball’s in his hands and he’s got time and space. So, the Dockers need to do more to get him involved, like what we see with Nasiah (Wanganeen-Milera),“ he said.

“The Saints go out of their way to give him the footy, and I think the Dockers have got to (do it). He can’t be going 15 minutes without touching the footy.”