Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has jumped to the defence of his divisive forward as episode 200 of the Joe Daniher show prepares to screen at the Gabba.
In a neat coincidence, former Essendon star Daniher will reach the milestone against his old club when the Bombers, out of the AFL's top-eight race, complete their season in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Lions can statistically finish as high as fourth and even drop out of the eight depending on other results.
But last year's beaten grand finalists will realistically finish fifth with a win and as low as eighth if they lose a third-straight game.
Defeats to GWS and Collingwood in consecutive weeks, both from dominant positions, followed a nine-game winning streak and all but scuppered hopes of a top-four finish.
It would have been a remarkable effort from a team Fagan acknowledges most had "written off" when injured, out of form and sitting 13th after 11 rounds.
Daniher, with 49 goals and 42 behinds in his fourth season at Brisbane and 12th overall, has been in the thick of all of it.
"He divides opinions, I suppose, Joey," Fagan said of the milestone man.
"But he's got a good heart and always puts the team first."
Daniher missed a set shot in the fourth quarter of the side's one-point loss to the Magpies while his decisions entering the forward 50 are regularly scrutinised.
"When he makes some of those mistakes that everybody makes comment on it's coming from a good place," Fagan said.
"He's just trying to help the team and sometimes he gets it wrong.
"We're all over him like a tonne of bricks. I try to remain even and level with him and he appreciates that and at the Lions we've seen a lot of good stuff and he's helped us win a lot of games."
Fagan has maintained a big-picture approach to the season but admits the last fortnight's results have stung.
"Disappointed, but not defeated," he said.
"There's lots of optimistic around our football club and you shouldn't underestimate the character the team's shown to fight back from being 13th, 14th on the ladder."
Fagan expects the Bombers to find inspiration from Dyson Heppell, who will retire after 253 games with the same club.
Good mate and former teammate Daniher paid tribute to Heppell in a club-supplied interview.
"It's sad for football but what he's done for the Essendon Football Club is second to none," he said.
"That club was smart and lucky to get a guy like Hep."
Daniher, 30, shares Fagan's optimism and says the 200-game mark had crept up on him.
"Our best football is going to be hard to stop," he said.
"But we need to find it more consistently.
"It's been an incredible journey so far.
"It's about my teammates and hopefully I've been a really enjoyable player to play with ... that's really what's important to me."
