More than anything else, Australian rules is a team game. And one of the most brilliant parts of it involves the work between two teammates, the centimetre-perfect pass.
The perfect pass goes to where your teammate is going, not where they are.
In the modern era, pulling off the perfect pass without tipping your hand to the opposition is increasingly hard. Teams operate on both sides of the ball, and defensive communication and principles are stronger than ever.
Players who can break through the opposition defensive wall are valuable. Defensive-half distributors are worth their weight in gold, especially those who can turn opposition players into witches hats.
Daniel Rich is a player who does the centimetre-perfect pass with ease.
Rich has had a long and winding rise to the top.
After winning the Rising Star award in his first year in the league, Rich has battled through injuries, role changes and form slumps in the Sunshine State.
After coming into the league as an in-and-under midfielder, Rich is now one of the finest distributors of the ball by foot from defence. Last year saw Rich named to his first All Australian team, a dozen years after being anointed a Rising Star.
With Brisbane firmly stuck to the top rungs of the ladder, it's the rise of its longest tenured player that is helping to keep them there.
A change in position
Each year, a crop of new players come into the league, looking to make their mark on the national stage. The hype and hoopla that comes from the draft process is rapidly forgotten when they step onto the field for the first time for their new clubs.
Going from junior footy to the AFL is like hopping out of a golf cart and into a supercar. Getting used to the pace and physicality takes time. Rich had an upper hand on most, with two senior WAFL premierships with Subiaco under his belt before coming into the AFL.
When Rich came into the league, he was considered a ready-built inside midfielder with a boot for a weapon going forward. Nicknamed Bam Bam, Rich could crash packs, take heavy stacks and still send the ball in the direction of his leading forwards.
After his first season, legendary key forward Jonathan Brown called him probably the best kick he had played with — some honour considering the ranks of the three-peat Lions.
The insider midfielder has long been considered the most valuable role on the ground, critical to determining the cut and thrust of the game. But some inside football circles call Rich's current role the most important; transitioning the ball from defence to attack is critical to the ebb and flow of the modern game.
After years of injury and positional uncertainty, Rich's fortunes were changed with the arrival of new coach Chris Fagan, who entrusted Rich to make the most of his strongest weapons, and instilled the belief his best footy was still ahead of him.
Fagan's rebuild at the Lions started with shoring up the defence, and that necessitated Rich's full-time move down back. That proved Rich with positional certainty, and a clear use for his dangerous left boot.
Where early in his career most of his possessions were contested, the move down back has freed him from the intense pressure of foreboding, chasing, big-bodied midfielders.
But his performances down back have been even better than the optimistic Lions fan could have hoped for.
Making good choices
Coming out of defence with the ball in hand is a balancing act.
Go too slowly, and the opposition has time to set up its defence, and the chance to score is greatly diminished. Going too quickly, and failing to pull it off, can leave your side exposed and the red carpet to goals is laid out for the other team.
The balance is extremely fine, a tense struggle between risk and reward. The best rebounding defenders can sum up the play a fraction of a second after getting the ball, seeing how it might unfold. Rich is one of the finest in the competition at weighing up the options, and choosing correctly.
The Lions, helped by one of the best weapons in the game, move the ball more directly than any other side when successfully transitioning it from defence to attack.
The Lions move the ball by foot going into attack, handballing the least of any side when embarking on scoring chains from the defensive half of the ground. The mere threat of Rich's deadly boot opens up space for his fellow Lions, let alone the damage it creates directly.
Rich is aggressive with the ball in hand, more aggressive than almost every other rebounding defender in the league. That means he turns it over more than other defenders. The strength of the Lions defence provides a barrier against getting hurt on those turnovers, as does the depth he is able to generate with his kicks.
A good rebounding defender also has to defend, and Rich is able to cover off on that front. Coming into the league, there were concerns about his shorter-than-average arm length and hand size. But Rich is more than able to compensate with his ability to anticipate the play and his fast reaction times. It's a similar skill set to the one he deployed as an inside midfielder, being able to guess where the ball was going to go before anyone else.
With his skill in reading the flight of the ball, Rich is a more than adequate intercept defender. When opponents isolate Rich, he more than holds his own, losing a relatively small number of contested one-on-ones compared to league average.
After winning his first All-Australian blazer last year, Rich was quick to credit the rest of the Lions defensive unit, another example of the team over the individual. That defence, and its counter attacking ability, has helped the Lions build a base for another attack at the flag.
Could it be the Lions' time?
Expectations were high for the Lions coming into 2022 after three straight finishes inside the top four. Those hopes have soared into the stratosphere after two solid wins against finalists from last year.
But the Lions will be missing a key part of the forward set up for much of the year, with Eric Hipwood working his way back from an ACL injury. In the meantime, Rich and his defensive colleagues will have to work hard to generate easy fast break scores.
If they can get through to the finals in one piece, Brisbane might just be the team to beat.
