Jason Bunter becomes just the fourth Buccaneer to have number retired

While Saturday night will live long in the memory of fans for the thrilling spectacle that the Buccaneers and Rockingham played out it also held another special moment with the retirement of a legend’s jersey.

Long before the fans were celebrating a euphoric win, fans cheered for one of their best servants as Jason Bunter’s number five jersey was retired in a pre-game ceremony.

Bunter’s jersey is just the fourth Buccs number to be retired joining Dan Hunt’s #32, Ray Evans’ #4 (unretired for son Harry Evans) and Greg Brown’s #13 (unretired for nephew Tomas Dobson) up in the stands.

He is no less deserving than the others, dominating the court from 1994-2008, including securing their maiden championship title in 2000.

In all he played in 411 games, scored 4078 points and made 408 blocks and 2465 rebounds.

However former teammate Dan Hunt was on hand to provide some other key stats often missed in the box scores.

“Most improved for 15 consecutive years, least potential rookie ever and the worst bench press in Bucc’s history,” he joked.

“But most importantly teammate of the year every year and one of the best to ever play with.

“He was that player you could rely on for every minute of every game, it was a pleasure and honour to call him a teammate and even more so a friend.”

Bunter was given three cheers from the sellout crowd as he thanked the Buccs’ faithful and his family for sharing this moment.

“I cannot thank the Geraldton community enough, you’re amazing and thank you to all my supporters, family, friends and teammates for giving me this honour,” he said.

“My three boys, who always ask if I really did play for the Buccs like the ones people actually paid to see and wanted autographs from, hopefully once you see the sign up in the grandstand, it really did mean I used to play for the Buccs, thank you very much.”