Daniel Rich will this week bring up his 250th AFL game and has been a stalwart at Brisbane since being selected in the 2008 National Draft.
Starting life as a midfielder, Rich reignited his career across half back and earned All-Australian honours for the first time in 2021.
But did the native West Australian ever come close to requesting a trade back home across his career?
Rich admits that during the club’s leaner years before Chris Fagan arrived, he did weigh up leaving Brisbane, but ultimately is happy he stayed loyal.
“There were definitely moments (I considered coming back to Western Australia),” Rich admitted on SEN WA Breakfast.
“Especially through those darker days and those times where I personally wasn’t playing well, the team wasn’t playing well, we were copping it in the media and that was all fair.
“But it definitely makes it more in the forefront of your mind, ‘gee, am I better off going home, blah, blah, blah’.
“At the end of the day I’m really proud that I have stuck fat.
“We are where we are as a footy club and it’s nice to be a small part of that.”
His 250th game will take place at Kardinia Park against the Cats and Rich is excited for the daunting task.
“Geelong in Geelong is right up there in terms of as tough as it gets and it’s a really big challenge we’re looking forward to and we got pretty close last year, but hopefully we can go one step further this year,” the 31-year-old said.
Rich is contracted with the Lions until the end of 2023, signing an extension earlier in the year.