In his three years as a GIANT Lachie Keeffe has been ready every time the team has needed him.
In 2018 he was called up late in the season to be part of the semi-final side that lost to his former side Collingwood.
Last year he did the same, playing an important part in the preliminary final win and being unlucky to miss out on grand final day.
This year, Keeffe came into the team after round four when Sam Taylor was hospitalised with a bacterial infection, and has done jobs on Tom Lynch, Ben King and Matt Taberner, among other key forwards.
In the latest episode of Becoming GIANT, presented by Bingo Industries, Keeffe explains his decision to join the club as a delisted free agent after the Magpies cut him at the end of 2017, a season in which he didn’t play a single senior game.
The 30-year-old explains how he came to Sydney knowing he would need to fight hard for a game, but trusting that his best football was yet to come and believing in his ability to be prepared whenever a chance came his way.
“I understand my spot in the team – I’m not a magnet that gets put up straight away,” Keeffe said.
“I just feel like I’ve got to put myself in the best position every week to A) be fit to play, injury free, and then B) be able to play good footy whenever I’m called upon.
“I pride myself on that, and trying to keep a level head when I’m not in the team.
“Nowadays it’s more about imparting my knowledge onto the young fellas and being a source of knowledge or information, and being ready to play my role if that comes to fruition."
In a wide-ranging interview Keeffe also discusses his childhood in north Queensland, where he played soccer before being introduced to AFL after moving to boarding school in Brisbane.
He talks about signing with Collingwood as a "unregistered" rookie before playing in a single club game, his long fight to get into the senior team, his two-year ban for testing positive to a banned substance and the struggles he faced trying to break back into the side after his suspension ended.
Heath Shaw, Callan Ward, Harry Himmelberg and Zac Williams are other GIANTS to have featured in the series, with defender Aidan Corr to appear in next week's episode.
