Australian Football

Famously (or fatuously?) dubbed 'Special Fried' by 3AW radio caller Rex Hunt, Dean Rice managed to carve out a memorable career at two V/AFL clubs despite the sometimes rippling intervention of injury. Initially discarded by Geelong after playing under nineteen and reserve grade football for the club he was snapped up by St Kilda and it soon emerged that the Cats' loss was most emphatically the Saints' gain.

Strongly built, capable overhead and blessed with more pace than might have been expected he was a key member of St Kilda teams, mainly as a wingman, for the first five (1987-91) of his seven seasons with the club.  He then missed the entire 1992 season after sustaining a knee injury which necessitated a full reconstruction. The 1993 season saw him fronting up once more but after 11 games he injured his other knee and at season's end the Saints decided that it was too much of a gamble to retain him and he was de-listed. He had played 116 V/AFL games and kicked 43 goals at this stage.

Fortunately for Rice he had admirers at Carlton and the Blues duly took him off the scrapheap by selecting him in the 1994 pre-season draft. However, his debut for Carlton could not have been more of a nightmare as he sustained another season-ending knee injury. The Blues though opted to persist with him and he repaid them amply by producing an excellent 1995 campaign which culminated in a grand final demolition of Geelong. Moreover, now operating as the quintessential utility, he continued to give sterling service for another half a dozen seasons before retiring - ironically, while fully match fit - in 2001. The Blues phase of his career had seen him play 118 matches and boot 42 goals.

Author - John Devaney