Brisbane stars Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron and Josh Dunkley have heaped praise on retiring veteran Daniel Rich after he was overlooked for Saturday’s grand final.
The former Subiaco midfielder has enjoyed a superb career as a Lion, winning the AFL Rising Star award, playing 275 games and earning All-Australian selection.
But he hasn’t played since dropping himself in round 14 to re-build his fitness and will watch from the sidelines on Saturday.
Cameron said Rich had been an incredible leader
“Being selfless, taking himself out of the team and trying to get his fitness right and give opportunities to younger blokes like Keidean Coleman and Darcy Wilmot was very selfless,” Cameron said.
“He’s helped them along the way with leadership and trying to get them better. You see Kiddy Coleman on the weekend, played his best game.”
Rich was part of an elite group of WA juniors who were drafted at the same time, with Nic Naitanui and Stephen Hill part of the same draft class.
He arrived at Brisbane when the club was in the finals, stayed when the team fell to the bottom of the ladder and was then part of the climb into multiple finals series, but will miss out on the biggest opportunity of his career.
Neale said he’d been influential in many ways.
“He’s a really caring person and a brilliant footballer,” Neale said.
“We feel for Richy that he’s not going to be out there but he’s been a massive part of this journey. Even when I was first thinking about coming to Brisbane, Richy was the first one to reach out and ask Jules and myself out for lunch when we were visiting Brisbane.
“He guided us through that process. He’s been a great friend of mine since day one.”
Dunkley also credited Rich for helping him to settle in. Dunkley said the way Rich had embraced him since moving to Queensland from the Western Bulldogs showed the type of player he truly is.
“He’s been incredible and for me,” Dunkley said.
“I’ve been there 12 months and the way he took me under his wing, looked after me and taught me about the history (was great).
“You look at players across the competition who have been there and done it all and he’s one of them. Its unfortunate he’s not out there, but we’re going to do everything we can to get the win for him.”