As the sun starts to set on another year of NRL and some teams see their last hopes for making the finals fade, a curtain is slowly going down on another era that will be more noticed by blackfellas than many others.
Finally, after being prematurely dismissed from the Sharks and a false start playing in England, David Peachey is hanging up his boots after playing out his career with Souths.
In a game that is riddled with talented Aboriginal players, Peachey was something special. He had a magic to the way he played that matched skill with sharp thinking and he was a constant reminder to many NRL fans as to why we love the game of rugby league.
While a star in the city, Peachey has always remained loyal to his country roots and to his own community. He has always been modest about his abilities and instead of engaging in the public behaviour exhibited by other players that has tarnished the game's reputation, he ploughed his energies into developing programs for young Aboriginal people and to becoming a role model for them.
Despite howling protests to the contrary, I have no doubt that racism still permeates aspects of the game of rugby league. Instances and allegations constantly arise that support this view and it is difficult to believe that prejudice would not exist in the game today when it has not magically disappeared from any other realm of society.
Aboriginal players rarely play the race card though. They knuckle down and get on with it and show that, by their talent, the dominant negative stereotypes are not true.
Peachey showed he had at least two more seasons in him when the Sharks let him go. The club that could not see what he still had to offer also failed to see the talent that was right under their nose in the form of Nathan Merritt.
Between the two, they have had much to do with the re-emergence of Souths as a force within the competition and the Sharks have yet to recover.
In fact, they have never really recovered from the time they pushed Preston Campbell into reserve grade while he was still one of the game's top players.
In fact, the Sharks provide us with a cautionary tale about underestimating the talents of Aboriginal players and about overlooking the magic in a player like David Peachey.
As he hangs up his boots, those of us who enjoyed the game a little more for the privilege of watching him play can be comforted by the fact that his contribution to the game will not end when he is no longer on the field.
