\n As Richmond rebuilds on and off the field, some of its biggest names have welcomed Jonty Faull as the newest member of the No.8 club\n <\/p>\n
Richmond greats Dick Clay, Michael ‘Disco’ Roach and Jack Riewoldt with Jonty Faull (second from right). Picture: Richmond FC<\/p>\n
SOME sports have a rich tradition of retiring famous player numbers, but members of Richmond’s unofficial No.8 club want this concept kept well clear of the AFL.<\/p>\n
Dick Clay, Michael ‘Disco’ Roach and Jack Riewoldt – Tigers royalty – were at Punt Rd on Tuesday to anoint Jonty Faull as their successor.<\/p>\n
After a promising debut season that featured 16 games, the 19-year-old will switch from No.26 to No.8 next season.<\/p>\n
Between them, Clay, Roach and Riewoldt amassed more than 800 games and 1500 goals. Most importantly, these No.8s played in eight Richmond premiership teams.<\/p>\n
“I’m very happy to have a No.8 running around. I’m not big on the retiring of numbers,” Roach said.<\/p>\n
Anointing Faull as the next No.8 now is particularly symbolic. Richmond is in the midst of a wholesale rebuild, with Faull among six high picks taken in last year’s national draft.<\/p>\n
The quartet posed for the cameras at Punt Rd, with the old Jack Dyer Stand now a cavernous hole as the club also rebuilds its spiritual home.<\/p>\n
Riewoldt agreed he would have “no greater thrill” than watching Faull wear No.8 for the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Clay is the odd man out in this select group, given his three fellow Tigers are all key forwards and he made his name on the wing or in defence.<\/p>\n
But Clay was quick to point out he kicked 84 goals in his career.<\/p>\n
“It’s great that it (No.8) is carried on. It’s a very exclusive club, this one,” Clay said.<\/p>\n
As members of his family proudly looked on, Faull knew exactly what sort of company he now keeps.<\/p>\n
Jonty Faull with his parents, Ben and Jane, after it was announced he would wear the No.8 jumper from 2026. Picture: Richmond FC<\/p>\n
“I felt super-honoured and stoked to be part of that club of No.8s,” Faull said.<\/p>\n
“If I’m half the player they have been, I’m taking the right steps.<\/p>\n
“There’s a wealth of knowledge here, so I will be talking to them about different ways to improve my game – see what they reckon.”<\/p>\n
Before this season, there was some extreme speculation the new-look Tigers might not win a game.<\/p>\n
Instead, they upset arch-rival Carlton in round one and claimed another four scalps across the year.<\/p>\n
Roach said the signs on and off the field were solid.<\/p>\n
“We just walked through the gym – we only basically had one barbell, I reckon (when we played),” he said.<\/p>\n
“I can’t wait … seeing the development going on, it’s going to be great.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be cheering on (Faull) for hopefully 10-15 years.<\/p>\n
“We just expect him to be competitive and hopefully he enjoys wearing it.”<\/p>\n
Jonty Faull in action during the match between Geelong and Richmond at GMHBA Stadium in round 17, 2025. Picture: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Riewoldt was asked about the pressure that Faull might feel as the newest No.8.<\/p>\n
“It shouldn’t be daunting for him, it’s an amazing opportunity for him to start to become the player the club obviously thinks he can become,” he said.<\/p>\n
“When we see debutants, we celebrate them like wins, because we think about the potential of what these kids might have ahead of them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Richmond rebuilds on and off the field, some of its biggest names have welcomed Jonty Faull as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-292196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}