Jack Riewoldt will undertake a key role with the new Tasmanian AFL club.
The Richmond champion, who recently announced his retirement as a player, will form a special team alongside fellow Tassie legend Alastair Lynch branded ‘The Fabric’.
The major task for the second iteration of the famed Riewoldt and Lynch combination will be to gather information so as to understand what the people of the great state of Tasmania want their football club to represent.
“At the moment I’m hesitant to pigeon-hole it to anything really,” Riewoldt said on SEN Tassie Breakfast when asked to describe his role.
“I’m an information gatherer for the next period of time which will be travelling around the state in chunks and hearing how the state and the people want to be represented by their football club.
“It will be building that dossier of stories and tales and ideas together to fundamentally come up with what the fabric of our organisation will look like.
“That just isn’t exclusively AFL, that will be a whole host of stories that make Tasmanians Tasmanians. Ultimately that’s how we want to be represented and we can transcend that into a way a football club culture is built on and the way a team plays.”
The three-time premiership star has no deadline on his tasks as he strives to bring a community feel to the brand new team.
Hobart-born Riewoldt plans to tap into the nostalgic element that is so prevalent within local footy clubs - the good old pie night.
“The roadmap is an interesting one,” he added.
“It’s just trying to figure out when the best time is to go down and visit everyone. We want to make sure everyone feels like they get their say and have the opportunity to voice what they would like their football club to represent.
“That will probably happen early next year when footy is back in the swing of things. The vehicle for that will be an interesting one. It will probably be community visits but also what I’ve phrased to the board are pie nights.
“I always remember selection night at Clarence Football Club on a Thursday night was always pie night. So having that ability to open the local community hall and invite everyone along to have their say.
“Then there will be a whole host of key interviews as well which will be with individuals. That will be a process the happens over the next six months.
“There really is no timeframe on this because it will be an ever-evolving beast. What it looks like now as compared to when the team runs out for the first time in whatever year that may be will be completely different.
“We want to set a platform up so when we do come into the competition at women’s and men’s level that not only are we coming into the competition to play, we’re coming into the competition to win, belong and excel.”
Riewoldt was also quizzed on whether or not his cousin and St Kilda great Nick will be involved at any level.
“The fact that he lives in America keeps him out of having a role at the club,” he said further.
“But down the line if he is to move back, I’d think it’s a high possibility that if he’s back here in Australia I’ve got no doubt that he’ll be putting his hand up to do something.”
The Tasmanian team this week announced an inaugural nine-person board of directors to work alongside chair Grant O’Brien.
Brisbane and Fitzroy royalty Lynch is on the board next to Kath McCann, James Henderson, Alicia Leis, Roger Curtis, Laura McBain, Graeme Gardner and Kathy Schaefer.
Listen to the full Riewoldt chat below: