Brisbane premiership forward Joe Daniher has always done things his way, and retiring at the age of 30, at the peak of his powers, is a true reflection of that, whilst also walking away for a lucrative deal.
As the club made a historic run to win its fourth AFL flag from outside the top four - the second team to do that this century - reports from Channel 7 commentator Brian Taylor on the eve of the grand final that a "pretty emotional and an incredible surprise" would shock the competition.
โJust one thing to watch out for, and do not ask me to follow up because I'm not going to give you any more information than what I give you now,โ Taylor said on the Rowey and Timmy G show on FIVEaaย leading into the 2024 AFL Grand Final.
โSomething is going to happen at the end of the grand final, regardless of who wins or loses, that is going to affect either side.
โAnd it is going to be pretty emotional and an incredible surprise to everyone in the footy world.
โI'll leave it at that.โ
Word started to get out that Daniher was considering hanging up the boots, although following Lions coach Chris Fagan's speech at the club's best and fairest count, it was 12 months in the making.
Following the 2023 grand final loss to Collingwood, the former Bomber told Fagan that if the Lions were victorious, 20 years on from their last flag, he would've made the difficult call then.
"Last year after the grand final, 'Joey' gave me a call, saying, 'Can we have a meeting?" Fagan said on Thursday evening.
"I caught up with him, and he said to me, "If we had have won this week, I was going to retire".
"But he said, "I'm going to play for one more year, and I hope we can win a premiership".
Thankfully for Brisbane fans, they returned to the last Saturday in September, and after a dominant second quarter against Sydney, stormed home with a mighty 60-point win.
In a moment to savour for Daniher, the 30-year-old kicked his second major and the last goal of the decider, with all his teammates flocking to him for the very last time.
The sheer emotion from Joe Daniher โค๏ธ pic.twitter.com/6BR0cWbFbs
— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 28, 2024
The left-footer got a chance to bid farewell to the club, quipping about his desire to get in front of the media.
โI finally got the mic,โ Daniher said following Fagan's speech.
โI'm always chomping at the bit for a bit of media.
โThere's two groups I'd like to thank, the Essendon Football club and more especially Essendon supporters. It's a challenging period of time for that club. But as a player I always felt supported by the fans and for that I'm very grateful.
โTo Brisbane Lions, Fitrzoy and the Brisbane Bears supporters thank you so much for embracing me, letting me come here and have a kick and stuff up a bit on the field and get another kick and stuff up again and then keep trying.
โWe got there in the end and getting a premiership is what this club deserves.
