{"id":326590,"date":"2025-12-04T06:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326590\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T06:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:20:18","slug":"fremantle-dockers-star-shai-bolton-to-wear-dockers-no-10-after-retirement-of-club-great-michael-walters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326590\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle Dockers star Shai Bolton to wear Dockers\u2019 No.10 after retirement of club great Michael Walters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shai Bolton has been given one of the biggest honours at Fremantle by being handed the No.10 vacated by retired club great Michael Walters.<\/p>\n

It comes with news the No.7 most recently worn by dual Brownlow medallist and former captain Nat Fyfe is set to remain remain vacant.<\/p>\n

The Dockers have revealed Bolton will wear the guernsey which was donned by the fan favourite affectionately known as \u201cSonny\u201d in 218 of his 329 games.<\/p>\n

Walters, 33, hung up the boots at the end of last season after not playing an AFL game in 2025 due to a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Bolton wore the No.15 in his first season at Fremantle after crossing from Richmond, where he featured in No.29 in 135 games.<\/p>\n

While they only played one season together at the Dockers, the duo formed a close bond with Bolton chairing Walters off alongside Michael Frederick after they beat Hawthorn in round 18.<\/p>\n

\"ShaiCamera IconShai Bolton in the No.10. Credit: Fremantle FC<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a proud moment of mine to be able to give it to someone of Shai\u2019s ilk. Someone who is a human highlight reel, puts bums on seats,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to be one of those guys at Optus Stadium enjoying that No.10 run around for many, many more years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better person than Shai Bolton to wear it. Keep doing your thing, carry on my legacy whilst creating your own. It\u2019s going to be an absolute honour and privilege to see it out there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolton posted on his Instagram about the decision, writing: \u201cMy idol growing up. To wear your number is a honour my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BoltonCamera IconBolton was one of two players to chair Walters off in his final game. Credit: Daniel Carson\/AFL Photos\"BoltonCamera IconBolton was one of two players to chair Walters off in his final game. Credit: Janelle St Pierre\/AFL Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bolton will become the sixth Docker to wear the No.10, following in the footsteps of Walters, Nick Lower, Rhys Palmer, Troy Cook and Stephen O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, several Fremantle recruits have been given their respective guernsey numbers ahead of next year.<\/p>\n

Former Melbourne defender Judd McVee will wear the No.17 vacated by midfielder Will Brodie, who was traded to Port Adelaide in October.<\/p>\n

Draftee Toby Murray has inherited the No.11 previously worn by retired midfielder James Aish, while Toby Whan has taken over the No.27 and rookie Leon Kickett will sit in front of the No.19 locker.<\/p>\n

Collingwood premiership ruckman Mason Cox will wear the No.18, having worn the No.46 for the entirety of his 139-game career at the Magpies.<\/p>\n

First-round draftee Adam Sweid has stepped into Bolton\u2019s vacant No.15, while Category-B rookie Ryda Luke will wear the No.40.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shai Bolton has been given one of the biggest honours at Fremantle by being handed the No.10 vacated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,10124,588,85],"class_list":["post-326590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326590","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=326590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}