In the loss against St Kilda on Thursday night, Rich was as rugged as ever.
He took a hard knock while contesting a mark and fell to the ground, only to bounce up seconds later to contest the next possession.
Whenever there was a stoppage, Rich was either at the bottom of the pile or hovering around the pack, ready to use his thumping left foot to send the Lions forward.
His stats for the milestone game - 19 disposals and six clearances - are modest by his standards, yet his toughness around the contest was invaluable and his six hard-ball gets, unsurprisingly, led the Lions, along with ruckman Broc McCauley.
Rich may one day lead the Lions, taking over from veteran midfield generals Simon Black and Luke Power if the level of respect players already have for the West Australian is anything to go by.
“He is massive for us; he is a brilliant player, he hits in hard and uses that booming left foot of his,” defender James Polkinghorne said.
“It would have been good to get a win for his 50th.”
Coach Michael Voss also paid tribute to Rich after the loss and said his development and that of other other Lions young guns Tom Rockliff and Jack Redden would be instrumental to the club’s future success.
“For them to be able to emerge together, that is important,” he said.
Rich, Redden and Rockliff, who were all selected in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, are a part of the Lions' young leadership group.
Rich, who won the NAB AFL Rising Star award in his first year in the competition, is the first of the trio to reach the 50 game mark.
