RICHMOND premiership forward Jack Riewoldt says the Tigers’ clash with Sydney on Thursday night is “mouth-watering.”

The top of the table clash sees both Richmond and Sydney battle it out for top spot, with both teams sitting with a 10-3 win-loss record.

Thursday night’s spectacle will be a finals like preview with Riewoldt saying the big match will suit the Tigers’ big game players.

“This is what you play footy for,” Riewoldt said on AFL 360.

“The only game on a Thursday night to lead off a pretty good round of footy, and we’re playing against a side that is probably the in-form side of the competition at the moment.

“I think we play a brand of footy that is suited to finals, which is that contested tackle pressure, get it forward, win the crucial one-on-ones.

“It’s certainly a mouth-watering battle for us and for our contested players they really thrive on that.”

The Tigers will play their only home game at Etihad Stadium for the season with the forward joking they “would’ve got 90,000 if it was at the ‘G.”

It will be the Tigers’ second top of the table clash for the season, having been involved in a clash with West Coast back in Round 9 — which they lost by 47 points.

Riewoldt says that being out of Melbourne means the Swans have flown under the radar, despite winning their last six matches.

“They go under the radar and they started really poorly last year and they might’ve lost their first six games last year, and then they were right there at the end of the year in the hunt of it,” Riewoldt said.

“They do go under the radar and they stay out of sight, out of mind. But they are certainly the yardstick in terms of you know what they are going to bring.”

Riewoldt believes the return of small forward Daniel Rioli has improved the team dramatically.

“We’ll probably get a couple of players back over the next fortnight which will help out,” Riewoldt said.

“Getting Rioli back a few weeks ago was a really big plus for us, sometimes people sort of see Rioli and if you look at the total output he might have, maybe 10-12 touches,

“Our small forwards — generally one misses out every week and to get him back and he comes in and has nine tackles, and some really big bits of play that you look back and go ‘oh we missed that’.”

Riewoldt also suggested the battle between Richmond defender Alex Rance and Swans forward Lance Franklin isn’t a battle to miss.

“Arguably the greatest forward to have played the game in the last 20 years to play arguably the greatest back to have played the game in the last 20 years, it’s going to be one hell of a battle.”