Joe Daniher’s future post 2024 AFL Grand Final up in the air

In a shock to the AFL world, Joe Daniher is considering his future post this weekend’s game. JON RALPH has the Lions’ response, plus the link to Brian Taylor’s cryptic comments.

Joe Daniher. Picture: Getty Images

Brisbane is aware Joe Daniher is contemplating his football future but is hopeful he will fulfil a contract for 2025 given his exceptional finals form.

Seven commentator Brian Taylor’s cryptic comments about a post-match bombshell this week led to speculation about Daniher’s future, with senior Lions figures unaware of the 30-year-olds plans.

But it is understood he has confided to some Lions staffers that he is not certain of playing on next year despite his rich vein of form.

The Lions told the Herald Sun they were aware Daniher, who will be 31 next year, has started thinking about what life after football looks like for him and his family.

Joe Daniher could play his final game on Saturday. Picture: Phil Hillyard

But Daniher is contracted for 2025, with Brisbane adamant his focus is purely on Saturday’s Grand Final and trying to help the Brisbane Lions win a premiership.

Daniher has always taken the path less travelled, speaking to the Herald Sun this week about his two-hour commute each way from the northern beaches of NSW to training.

Daniher has been in scintillating form for the Lions in recent finals, putting together a brilliant finals series last year and kicking the match-winner against Richmond in the 2022 finals campaign.

He kicked two goals against GWS to drag the game away from the Giants in one of his finest AFL performances.

When contacted on Friday night a close member of his family expressed doubt about the reports.

But Taylor was adamant there would be an emotional moment post-match.

While he has always enjoyed the beach lifestyle and a work-life balance, Daniher is at the peak of his football powers after many seasons of injury and up and down form.

Taylor said on Adelaide radio on Thursday: “Something is going to happen at the end of the grand final...it will be pretty emotional and an incredible surprise to everyone in the footy world”.

Daniher has played a huge role in Brisbane’s finals series. Picture: Phil Hillyard

If Daniher was to retire it would not be with a grand post-game spectacle, but Brisbane has given up predicting his movements or emotions given he is so different to the normal AFL player.

He mostly shuns interviews and is not interested in the limelight or trappings of success, preferring to keep a low profile after his time at Essendon as the club’s emerging superstar.

If he did decided to quit despite that lucrative contract for 2025 it would put a massive hole in the club’s forward line given Logan Morris is only a first-year forward and Eric Hipwood is a quality back-up but not capable of carrying a forward line.

The Lions would in a normal world go and secure another key forward but have instead committed to taking father-son Levi Ashcroft and academy mid Sam Marshall.