Sherwood's Auskick players strike it Rich

IN AWE: Corinda boy, Jacob Crisafulli, 5, gets a photo taken with Daniel Rich.

DANIEL Rich is a favourite among Brisbane Lions' youngest fans.

And after his visit to Sherwood Football Club last Sunday, it's no surprise why.

While you could sense the gun midfielder was still upset by his team's 63-point loss to Geelong the day before, Rich would not let that affect his time with Sherwood's Auskick players.

The 20-year-old appeared to relish the opportunity to mix with the eager juniors, helping with the Auskick program's end-of-season presentation by handing out the player's awards.

Besides signing autographs and posing for photos, last year's AFL NAB Rising Star winner also passed on some useful advice to Sherwood's under-14s before they tackled Coorparoo.

Rich, who was there as part of an initiative by NAB, said some of his fondest memories of playing football were back when he was a child in Western Australia.

“I kind of did everything I could in terms of the footy thing, I loved getting down to do Auskick and all the things we had back in the days when I was running around as a little tacker,” he said.

“The Auskick program is a really good initiative by NAB and I always love to help.”

By Rich's lofty standards, which he set up with a superb 2009 season, it hasn't been a great year for the booming left-footer.

What's more, it hasn't been a year any Lions fan or player would want to remember.

The Lions crashed to their 13th loss in 14 matches on Saturday night, going down by 10 points to Melbourne at the Gabba.

But Rich was heavily involved amassing 25 possessions in one of his best efforts of the year.

By Griffith Thomas