The number 12 is a historically significant number in St Kilda’s history, going right back to the days of Roy ‘Tiger’ Bence in the 1920s and 1930s.
Harold Bray finished in in the top three of the Brownlow medal on three occasions wearing no. 12, while he also captained the Saints and won two club best and fairests.
Gary Colling and Nick Riewoldt also captained the Saints while wearing no. 12, while Shane Wakelin, Russell Morris and Ross Oakley also wore the number with distinction.
Riewoldt and Wakelin are the two most recent custodians of the number and share their affinity with the guernsey in the first of a new series on saints.com.au.
Nick Riewoldt:
Funnily enough I had never really worn number 12 at all before I got to St Kilda. I wore a few different numbers throughout junior and representative footy beforehand but never no. 12.
I came to the club at the same time as quite a few other players. Some of my new teammates coming in at that time were Robert Powell, Justin Koschitzke, Mark Gale, Stevie Lawrence, Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig, Matthew Capuano, Daniel Wulf and Craig Callaghan.
It was a time of quite a bit of change at the Saints so there were a lot of spare numbers going around. I just got allocated no. 12, I didn’t actually ask for it but I figured they were showing a bit of faith in me to give such a high number to a kid who had never played at AFL level before.
The number had opened up after Shane Wakelin had left for Collingwood so ever since then I made sure I made it my own.
I’ve had a bit to do with Shane, especially since he has returned to the club to head up our Commercial Operations, and I’ve also spoken to Gary Colling quite a bit at club functions over the years.
It’s never really crossed my mind to change to another number and I guess now, 13 years on it has become a part of who I am. I still get a bit of a buzz when I see a kid wearing a Saints jumper with no. 12 on the back.
Shane Wakelin:
I stared my career wearing no. 33 but moved up to 12 after my first season with the club. Russell Morris had retired at the end of 1994 and the number was up for grabs. I don’t remember how I came about getting it, but I remember I was happy to get it as I had worn it throughout my junior career.
I was born on August 12 and my twin brother Darryl was born on August 11, so throughout our junior careers we always wore 11 and 12. Darryl came to the club at the end of 1994 but Dean Anderson had 11 so Darryl got 15.
I’ve always been big on traditions in footy clubs so I made sure I knew a bit about who had worn it before me.
Gary Colling was our football manager at the time so I had a connection to the number already within the club. Ross Oakley also wore no. 12 at the Saints and he was the AFL CEO at the time too, so I was well aware of the history of the number.
After I left the Saints and joined Collingwood, Steve McKee had no. 12 so I had to get another number. I actually wanted no. 7 but I didn’t end up with it so I wore 14 instead.
Meanwhile the bloke who took over 12 at the Saints went on to make a bit of a name for himself. I followed Nick’s career ever since he was drafted and I must admit it gives me a bit of pride that he’s done so well in no. 12.
