DEAN Rice was not fussed where his son ended up, he was just thrilled to see Bailey make it into the AFL.
A contingent of family and friends gathered around to see Bailey Rice, 18, who grew up playing for Endeavour Hills, snatched one of only 70 spots on offer from the AFL clubs at Tuesday night’s national draft.
The Rice cohort had to wait into the third round to hear Bailey’s name and it came not from the Saints at first, but Richmond which used pick 49 to bid on the talented defender/midfielder.
But the Saints matched the bid to ensure the Rice legacy would continue onto the next generation as Bailey became one of six Dandenong Stingrays taken in the national draft – a fantastic result for the TAC Cup club.
“It’s crazy – I was just watching it with family and friends and I’m over the moon,” Rice said.
“I’m lost for words … didn’t think the Saints were going to match it (Richmond’s bid) at first – but I was pretty confident they would.”
Instead of heading to schoolies in Queensland later this week, Rice would be on a different trip to the sunshine state as he and Stingrays team mate Brandon White start pre-season with the Saints and get stuck into their careers.
“Got a call before saying I was going to Queensland on Saturday – was meant to go to schoolies on the 28th in Queensland but this is even better,” Rice said.
“Going to St Kilda and Queensland this week instead.”
A lot has changed for St Kilda Rice-to-Rice as the club has shifted from Moorabbin and Waverley Park when Dean ended his time there in 1993, to now training at Seaford and playing indoor home games at Etihad Stadium.
But the pride of getting into the system hasn’t changed and Dean Rice could not have been more excited to hear his son’s name called out.
“Very proud mate, just as a father let alone going to the same club that I played for – just that he gets the opportunity to play AFL footy,” Dean Rice said.
“He’s worked really hard at it and gets an opportunity that many kids don’t get and it could set him up for life now if he makes the most of it.”
Dean’s football legacy gave Bailey Rice a unique choice between Carlton and St Kilda by means of the father-son rule, but in the end the elder Rice thought his son’s dual-heritage didn’t serve him that much of an advantage.
“I think the whole structure was a bit weird – it was all over the place – and to a point I think Bailey having two clubs he could go to pushed him down the draft a bit,” Dean Rice said.
“Clubs were baulking at him, thinking ‘oh well, there’s no point us bidding on him if he’s going to go to one of those clubs anyway’, so it pushed his value down the draft a bit, but anyway he got to the club in the end and that’s the main thing.”
One of the loudest on the field, Bailey Rice was surprisingly lost for words on Tuesday night but wanted to make sure everyone in his life – whether around or away from the footy oval – knew how much they meant to him.
“There are so many people I’d like to thank – I don’t want to do names as I’d probably miss a lot of people, but there are so many and I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my life,” Rice said.
