Daniel Rich - 2008 AFL Draftee Profile
November 3, 2008 by Jesse Penfold
The second half of the Naitanui debate. These two will be linked for the rest of their careers simply based on the no.2 draft selection. Rich, the ready made midfield, and the closest sure thing you will find in this draft. Naitanui the freakish athlete that could make or break your club. You will never say one without thinking the other.
Height: 185cm
Weight: 77kg
Position: Midfeild
Team: Subiaco, WA
Expected club: Fremantle
AFL Comparison: A smaller Luke Hodge
Number of Rich v Naitanui posts on Big Footy: More than Judd v Hodge
Do not let all the Naitanui talk fool you though, Rich is not second place. He can stand on his own two feet. He is heading into the draft as a dual premiership player at senior level and a two time All-Australian at the Under-18 national carnival. These accolades aren’t without merit either; he has one of the most accurately penetrating kicks seen at his age, and has shown an astonishing high level of consistency with Subiaco.
Rich’s truest indicator may have come late in this years Under-18 championships. Last year he was part of an unprecedented talent in the middle that included Rhys Palmer and Chris Masten, which enabled Daniel the freedom to run rough shot over the opposition. This year with those guys fitting in to their WA AFL clubs Rich was by himself, the main target of his opponents and struggled in the early games. It didn’t phase him however, and by the end of the champs he had made the required adjustments to dominate and make the All Australian team for his second year in a row.
If that doesn’t say something about how he will handle the change to AFL competition I don’t know what will…well you can always throw in the nod of approval from former great Nathan Buckley.
All in all John Worsfold is tearing his hair out with this decision, while the Dockers are licking their chops, watching game tape of the last time Palmer and Rich teamed up together, high fiving and dreaming about their midfields possibilities over the next decade.
We on the other hand can think about Naitanui vs. Rich in the derby, it is just a matter of which team they will be suiting up for.
He gets my tick of approval.
Ive seen a few of his games live and boy is he impressive..
He is probably not as free running as Palmer but his kicking, his attack on the ball and his second efforts are amazing.
In one game against Swan Districts this year, he did about 3 or 4 efforts in one play of the game and was the reason why Subi ended up winning that game.