Jason Castagna will be Richmond’s Homecoming Hero for Sunday’s Round 9 clash with West Coast at the MCG.

The Tigers will pay tribute to their triple premiership small forward in the lead-up to the match.

Castagna will walk to the Punt Road end, where he’ll receive the plaudits of the Tiger Army.

He’ll then kick a ceremonial goal, while highlights of his playing career will be shown on the MCG’s screens.

Richmond recruited Castagna with its second pick (No. 29 overall) in the 2015 AFL rookie draft.

The Northern Knights/Marcellin College product spent the entire 2015 season at VFL level with the Tigers, playing predominantly as a rebounding small defender, before making his senior debut in Round 6 of the 2016 season against Port Adelaide at the MCG.

Castagna made five senior appearances all-up that season, but the following year he established himself as a key member of Richmond’s line-up in a new role as a hard-running, small forward who applied frenetic pressure to opposition defenders.

01:54

He played all 25 games in the Tigers’ glorious, drought-breaking 2017 premiership season and kicked 26 goals, including one in the Grand Final triumph over Adelaide.

The following year, when Richmond just fell short, bowing out in the preliminary final, Castagna finished with 26 goals from 22 games.

Then, in the Tigers’ 2019 premiership season, Castagna scored 27 goals from 24 games. He didn’t register a goal in the Grand Final success against Greater Western Sydney but was a constant threat to the Giants, with five scoring shots that resulted in behinds from the 20 disposals that he racked up.

When Richmond made it back-to-back premierships in the 2020 COVID-19 affected season, Castagna booted 17 goals from 21 games, including a crucial set-shot six-pointer during the early stages of the third quarter of the Grand Final against Geelong at the Gabba.

From 2017-2020, Castagna featured in 92 of a possible 95 matches, which was the equal most of any Richmond player, and he averaged more than a goal a game throughout that time.

To underline his consistency, Castagna was one of only two Tigers to boot 25 goals or more in each of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 season. The other player to achieve that feat was Dustin Martin.

When Castagna surprisingly announced his retirement from AFL football on the eve of the 2023 season, at just 26 years of age, Richmond’s General Manager of Football Talent Blair Hartley had this to say about the triple premiership Tiger.

“Jason has been the ultimate teammate over the course of his 134 games at Richmond," Hartley said.

“He worked so hard on his craft to become an integral part of our team by playing a team-orientated and disciplined role in our forward line.

“Jason is so selfless and went about his business with minimum fuss. He set the tone with the pressure he created in the forward half of the ground through effort, grit and the ability to win or halve contests for the team.

"He has had a terrific career, playing an important role in three premierships, and can walk away proud of his achievements as an AFL footballer.”

Jason Castagna Fact File
Date of birth: July 12, 1996
Height: 181cm
Playing weight: 80kg
Recruited by Richmond from: Northern Knights/Marcellin College
Guernsey numbers: No. 46 and No. 11
AFL debut: Round 6, 2016 v Port Adelaide, MCG
Games (2015-2022): 134
Goals: 127
Honours: Triple Richmond premiership player (2017, 2019, 2020)

Richmond's Homecoming Heroes since 2014...

2014, Rd 2: Michael Green 2014, Rd 4: Kevin Bartlett 2014, Rd 6: Bryan Wood
2014, Rd 13: Kevin Morris 2014, Rd 14: Wayne Walsh 2014, Rd 16: Barry Richardson
2014, Rd 19: Rex Hunt 2014, Rd 20: Francis Bourke 2015, Rd 2: Bill Barrot
2015, Rd 5: Andrew Kellaway 2015, Rd 7: Mark Lee 2015, Rd 9: Derek Peardon
2015, R12: Dale Weightman 2015, R15: Matthew Richardson 2015, R17: Dick Clay
2015, R20: Barry Rowlings 2016, R6: Matthew Rogers 2016, R7: Jake King
2016, R8: Nick Daffy 2016, R12: Nathan Foley 2016, R14: Dan Jackson
2016, R17: Scott Turner 2016, R20: Jim Jess 2016, R21: John Ronaldson
2016, R22: Graeme Bond 2017, R2: Roger Dean 2017, R3: Richard Clay
2017, R8: Mick Malthouse 2017, R10: Michael Mitchell 2017, R13: Shane Tuck
2017, R14: Paul Broderick 2017, R18: Stephen Mount 2017, R20: Graham Burgin
2017, R23: Trevor Poole 2018, R3: Michael Roach 2018, R4: Michael Gale
2018, R7: Craig Lambert 2018, R10: Stephen Rae 2018, R16: Chris Naish
2018, R19: Tony Jewell 2018, R20: Gareth Andrews 2018, R22: Mark Eustice
2018, R23: Nathan Brown 2019, R2: Geoff Raines 2019, R9: Darren Gaspar
2019, R10: Andrew Krakouer 2019, R12: Jeff Hogg 2019, R17: Greg Tivendale
2019, R18: Ivan Maric 2019, R21: Tony Free 2019, R22: Merv Keane
2019, R23: Michael Pickering
2021, R7: Chris Hyde 2021, R8: Kayne Pettifer
2021, R17: Lionel Proctor 2022, R2: Jacob Townsend 2022, R4: Joel Bowden
2022, R8: Brett Deledio 2022, R10: Phil Egan 2022, R13: Kelvin Moore
2022, R14: Sam Lloyd 2022, R16: Ben Holland 2022, R20: Brett Evans
2023, R1: Neil Balme
2023, R4: Robert McGhie
2023, R8: Laurie Fowler
2023, R9: Bachar Houli
2023, R11: Shaun Grigg
2023, R14: John Howat
2023, R17: Mike Perry
2023, R19: Craig McKellar
2023, R20: Bruce Monteath
2024, R2: Matt White
2024, R8: Reece Conca
2024, R11: Shane Edwards
2024, R14: Cameron Clayton
2024, R16: Mark Coughlan
2024, R18: Kevin Sheedy
2025, R9: Jason Castagna