Michael Rischitelli will take son Kai to Qclash #24 at the Gabba on Saturday night to celebrate his 10^th birthday. He cares only that he has a good time. The result is genuinely irrelevant.

“Honestly, I don’t know who I barrack for,” said Rischitelli, a 100-game player with Lions and the Suns and the unofficial #1 ticket-holder for the Qclash rivalry. “I feel a strong connection with both clubs and I like to see them both do well.”

Yes, it’s the politically correct answer, but in Rischitelli’s case its true. One of football’s gentlemen, he is grateful for the opportunity given to him by the Lions late in the 2003 National Draft, and to the Suns for the role he was afforded in the birth of Queensland’s second AFL club.

“These days I’m just a fan,” said 37-year-old Richitelli, four years into football retirement and splitting his focus between wife Jo, Kai and seven-year-old daughter Lia, and a new role outside football.

Living as he has done for 10 years at Burleigh, Rischitelli has taken on a partnership and sponsorship role with ‘Being Mentors’, a support, guidance and mentoring business that provides care, assistance and mentoring to people of all ages and abilities throughout south-east Queensland, North Queensland, Northern Territory, northern NSW and Melbourne.

He’s ideally placed after a 16-year stint in the AFL which provided countless lessons and learnings after an anxious time when it looked like it might be over even before it began.

On 24 November 2003 Rischitelli, a tough midfielder from the Western Jets in the now NAB League, was among dozens of young hopefuls anxiously watching the National Draft.

He wasn’t expected to go early, but as the draft moved through the 30’s and 40’s it got tense. When Melbourne passed at pick #52 and Geelong did likewise at #54 the end was near.

At #58 Adelaide took Werribee ruckman Ben Hudson, a four-club 168-gamer in the making who is now the Lions VFL coach. At #59 Sydney took Matthew Davis from North Adelaide, who never played at AFL level, and at #60 Collingwood picked up Julian Rowe from the Oakleigh Chargers, who would go on to play 26 games.

At #61 the Lions chose Rischitelli in what proved to be one of the club’s great late picks.

He played 111 games with the Lions from 2004-10, winning the Merrett/Murray Medal in 2010, and 132 games with the Suns from 2011-19, finishing third in their inaugural club championship. He finished top 10 in the B&F at each club three times and was a much-respected leader of both.

His exit from the Lions was unforgettable. Having announced on 7 September 2010 that he would join the start-up Suns he fronted up two days later for the Brisbane club championship dinner, edging out club greats Simon Black and Jonathan Brown to win the coveted award.

He broke down part-way through his acceptance speech, and after regaining his composure said. "I didn't think it was going to be this hard. There'll always be a spot in my heart for the club and I want to wish the boys the best of luck in 2011.

"It's (Gold Coast decision) obviously been playing on my mind a little bit. The main reason I came out to announce it a few days ago was because of how the guys supported me through my footy. The announcement was for you guys. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

It was all class. And while the Lions were sad to see him go there was no ill-feeling.

Coincidentally, Rischitelli’s 100th game for the Suns was against the Lions at Carrara in 2016 but sadly he blew out his knee four minutes in and spent 12 months on the sideline.

At the time Rischitelli was the 38^th player in AFL history to play 100 games for two clubs. He is now one of 53 in this special group, the only player to do so with the Lions and the Suns, and one of only seven players to have played for both Queensland clubs.

Rischitelli and Jared Brennan were the first pair to win dual club status when they starred for the Suns in Q-Clash #1 when the competition newcomers sprung an eight-point upset at the Gabba. Brennan had 30 possessions and earned three Brownlow Medal votes, and Rischitelli, with 29 possessions, 10 tackles and eight clearances, was unlucky to miss the votes.

Pearce Hanley, Andrew Raines, Jarryd Lyons, Callum AhChee and Tom Berry have followed, but only Hanley, Lyons and AhChee have played for both clubs in a Qclash. And the prospect of another dual 100-gamer is a long, long way off.