Raised in Garfield in West Gippsland (you know - between Nar Nar Goon and Bunyip!), young Danny O'Brien kicked the dew off the grass with Garfield footy club and went to the local school until leaving at 15 to embark on an apprenticeship in painting/panel spraying. He also waited for the 1998 draft in which several clubs had committed to pick him - but nothing came to pass.
So rather than feel sorry for himself he dropped tools and headed to Melbourne to train for a month with Richmond with a view to being picked in the 1998 Rookie Draft. This time Geelong snapped him up before the Tiges could pick him and it was off to Kardinia Park to have a crack at the big time.
After a grounding in 1999, Danny was upgraded to the Senior list at the Cats in 2000 and played 8 games including picking up 20 possessions and 3 tackles against the "D's" in April and kicking 2 goals against the Swans the following week.
In 2001 Danny played every game in the Geelong VFL team which won the flag, kicked 54 goals and had a great season but just wasnt in the coach's plans - sounds like he couldnt do much else! - and faced the reality that his time in the AFL may be over.
2002 saw our friendly midfielder back at Garfield where he played in another Senior Grand Final (this time a loss) before getting out of town in 2003 after the tragic loss of his best mate and playing for North Shore in the Geelong League where he had a bumper year including winning the League Medal by a record 12 votes.
Round 1 in 2004 saw Obie go down with a knee injury and off for a full reconstruction that apart from a hobbling match in 2005 and some games in 2006 saw him hop in the car with Melissa and head to our beautiful Sunny Coast for a fresh start.
2007 saw Danny take to the field in a Noosa jumper in 6 games and 2008 saw him play 2 early games before having an athroscope and playing the last 6 plus finals.
At the start of this season Danny finally addressed a lump on his knee that after being removed required a significant bone graft from his hip being inserted into a hole near his knee. Hopefully problem finally solved!!!
Off the field, Danny and Melissa have built a house at Cooroy and Danny loves getting on a surf board as an escape and for the joy of it.
I reckon he deserves a bit of joy and may the footy gods also start to shine on this decent young man from Garfield.
Last Modified on 01/09/2009 09:24