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Just weeks after walking off the MCG for the final time as a Richmond footballer, Jack Riewoldt has officially changed his colours, becoming the first employee of the Tasmanian Football Club.<\/p>\n
Riewoldt, whose grand ambition is for the AFL\u2019s 19th men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams to become a worldwide template for newly created clubs and organisations, will lead the creation of the club\u2019s culture and work to unify the state behind the club as it works towards launching for the 2028 season.<\/p>\n
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Jack Riewoldt speaks to the media after announcing his retirement from AFL.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been offered a job before other than being drafted,\u201d said Riewoldt. \u201cI rushed home and told (wife) Carly, I was so excited.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel extremely lucky and I\u2019m really excited to get out and get my feet on the ground and start working on a culture piece that will create the football club and what we want it to become.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I\u2019d work in footy coaching, but I\u2019ve always been drawn to the cultural and leadership pieces. This is an opportunity to scratch that footy itch and give back to a place that gave me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Riewoldt spoke exclusively to this masthead on the eve of the club\u2019s historic first board meeting to be held in Launceston on Wednesday. Driving from his Tasmanian coastal base of Orford to Launceston, he said there was no timeline on his appointment but \u201conce you\u2019re involved in these things you want to see them through\u201d.<\/p>\n Chairman Grant O\u2019Brien\u2019s nine-member board includes another three-time Tasmanian-born AFL premiership champion in Alastair Lynch, James Henderson, the sports entrepreneur who manages Chris Fagan and Alastair Clarkson, former Tourism Tasmania marketing boss Kath McCann and Indigenous advisor Graeme Gardner.<\/p>\n AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Richmond star Jack Riewoldt at the announcement of the AFL\u2019s 19th team in Tasmania.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n Made up of five men and four women, the board has been ratified by the Jeremy Rockliff-led state government and the AFL. Six of the directors are based in Tasmania and three of those in Hobart, the site of the club\u2019s home base and the proposed new stadium, which Riewoldt described as the \u201cfinal step\u201d for the club.<\/p>\n It was at a meeting at the Albert Park offices of Henderson six weeks ago where the Riewoldt appointment had its beginnings. He was one of a number of famous Tasmanian AFL identities at the meeting, including Peter Hudson, Rodney Eade and Scott Clayton, and was asked to put forward his thoughts on what made a great club.<\/p>\n From that meeting the concept of creating the club\u2019s DNA through a body of work entitled \u201cThe Fabric\u201d, with Riewoldt as something of a spokesman cum cultural attache, was born. Still Melbourne-based Riewoldt plans to relocate his young family to his Orford beach house for three months from December to kick off his new job.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve lived one culture at Richmond for 17 years,\u201d said Riewoldt, \u201cand for the last two-and-a-half years I\u2019ve worked with leadership and culture through the company I run with my wife and two others Authentic Leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd through Damien (Hardwick) I\u2019ve learned about the importance of storytelling to create a great organisation. So excited about what this football club can be, and it\u2019s not going to be my ideas that create this \u2013 it\u2019s going to be the collective ideas of the Tasmanian people.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to talk to the Premier. I want to talk to David Walsh and find out what lay behind the creation of MONA. I want to sit down with (state opposition leader) Rebecca White.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should scour the state to find out what makes us. Our football DNA lies in names like Darrel Baldock and Peter Hudson and Royce Hart and Matthew Richardson, but it also lies in the stories hidden in the far corners of our state.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked if he felt daunted by the task ahead, Riewoldt said: \u201cTo be honest, I feel very privileged, but I don\u2019t feel daunted. To work to try to parlay the fabric of this state into a football team and club put together by people and colours and history feels pretty unique.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no cloth like the one that exists in this state and I have big dreams that we can create something truly special here.\u201d<\/p>\n The new board will also establish a Women\u2019s Football Advisory Panel, led by experienced sports administrator Julie Kay. Riewoldt said that while the AFL men\u2019s team would not start before 2028 he remained hopeful the AFLW side could make its debut earlier.<\/p>\n And he remained unperturbed by the long timeline. \u201cIt gives us more time to do this properly and do it the Tasmanian way,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a big dream and there\u2019s real strength in going slow.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was to look forward five years and then look back I\u2019d like to think we created an unbreakable link between the Tasmanians who live here and the Tasmanians who left to live in other states or other parts of the world, and the footballers who came here to play for the Tasmanian Football Club.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to provide something we, and they, are really proud of and a sense of togetherness. When people walk through the doors for the first time they\u2019ll know this is a club created by the right people, and they\u2019ll have the opportunity to become the best people and players they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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