Adrian Williams Barich (born 5 December 1963) is a sports presenter for television and radio, and a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

and Perth Demons and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player.

Early life

Barich grew up in Canberra, where he played multiple sports including

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

(in which he represented the ACT), later as a teenager he moved over to

and captained the first premiership for Marist College Pearce. He also played senior football for the now-defunct

Manuka Football Club Manuka Football Club is a defunct Australian rules football club that played in the AFL Canberra from 1928–1991. The club played at Manuka Oval in the inner-south suburbs of Canberra. It merged with Eastlake Football Club in 1991. Notable pla ...

for three seasons and was part of their 1981 premiership team. In 1984 he moved to Perth to play for the

Perth Football Club The Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club based in Lathlain, Western Australia, currently playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Representing the south-east area of the Perth metropol ...

under coach Ian Miller.

Sporting career

Australian rules football

Perth Football Club

Barich played Australian rules as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, halfback flanker and winger. After moving to Perth in 1984 and signing with the

he went on to play 160 games for the club and earn life membership. He also captained the side for two seasons.

West Coast Eagles

Barich was an inaugural member of the

and played in their historic first game in 1987. In his 47 games, Barich proved to be a robust midfielder. His place in West Coast Eagles history was forged more for his off-field role in the 1992 premiership. After missing selection in the team, he and

Phil Scott Philip Brian Scott (born August 4, 1958) is an American politician, businessman and stock car racer who has served as the 82nd governor of Vermont since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected governor in the 2016 general elec ...

, another inaugural player, penned a moving letter to those players selected to represent the club, letting their teammates know how much victory would mean to those who could not play and what it meant to those players who had been involved from club infancy.

Representative football

Barich played AFL

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

football for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

as well as representing

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

three times, captaining them in 1993.

Rugby league

In 1995 he joined Western Australia's newly formed

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

club, the

Western Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition i ...

and played for two seasons. However, he only played one first grade trial game and did not make a first grade appearance.Western Force forums
/ref> Barich also played for

North Beach Sea Eagles North Beach Sea Eagles Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Beach, Western Australia formed in the early 1950s.They conduct teams for Juniors, Seniors and also Women's League Tag. In 2016 local ju ...

in the WARL.

Media

Channel 7 Perth

Since 1995 Barich has been a television sports reporter and presenter with Channel 7 Perth. He was also a boundary commentator for the networks AFL coverage and part of '' Basil's Footy Show''. He permanently became the weekend sports presenter on '' Seven News Perth'' in late 2007 following the shock death of his colleague and friend

Chris Mainwaring Christopher Douglas Mainwaring (27 December 1965 – 1 October 2007) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the East Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian ...

. Barich helps organise the Chris Mainwaring match for Telethon each year. In 2010 Barich won the coveted Geoff Christian Medal for the best football journalist in Western Australia.

6PR

Barich has a long association with radio station 6PR, going back to the late 1980s when he filled in for Graham Mabury on ''Nightline''. In 2001 Barich paired with

Basil Zempilas Basil Anthony Zempilas (born 30 July 1971) is an Australian television and radio presenter, sports commentator and politician based in Perth, Western Australia. Zempilas presented sport until 2022 on '' Seven News Perth'', Monday to Thursday and ...

to co-host the breakfast program, and two and a half years later moved to ''Sports Today'', alongside

Brad Hardie Bradley John Hardie (born 10 October 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented , , and in the Australian Football League (AFL) as well as in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Stocky built with bright red hair, Ha ...

and

Karl Langdon Karl John Langdon (born 28 March 1968) is a sports commentator and radio personality in Western Australia and a former Australian rules footballer with the Subiaco Football Club and the West Coast Eagles. Early life Langdon began his sport ...

. In mid-2006 ''Sports Today'' was revamped and called ''Sports Central''. Barich also covered the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

's Super 14 matches with Mick Collis on 6PR. He is famous for saying "thank you very much", "gornski" and pronounces numbers like

Lou Richards Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards, (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team ...

Mix 94.5

In 2010 Barich left 6PR and launched a new show on Mix 94.5 called ''The Dead Set Legends''. He co-hosted the show with Channel 7 presenter Sally Bowrey. In July 2012,

Angela Tsun Angela Tsun (born 27 August 1982) is an Australian television and radio presenter. Tsun is currently weekend news presenter on ''Seven News'' in Perth. She also currently co-hosts '' The Dead Set Legends'' on Mix 94.5. Career Tsun lived, st ...

replaced Bowrey and the current line-up features Tania Armstrong,

Damian Martin Damian Patrick Martin (born 5 September 1984) is an Australian former professional basketball player, best known for his 11 seasons with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). After f ...

and

Andrew Embley Andrew Embley (born 27 June 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is known for winning the Norm Smith Medal as the best player in the 2006 AFL Grand Final ...

References

External links

* *
West Coast Eagles past player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barich, Adrian 1963 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory West Coast Eagles players Perth Football Club players Manuka Football Club players Western Australian State of Origin players New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players Australian rugby league players Australian rules football commentators Australian radio presenters Seven News presenters Rugby league players from Canberra