Ricki never gave Daniel a licence to roam. He had one of the best left feet in the game. His crosses were on the money, not the defenders arse like several other players have specialized in in the last few years. Daniel could read the game, he was a favourite with fans of all ages because he was approachable, respectful but more importantly, a damn good winger/forward.
It is hard to compare players from a decade ago since level of competition changes. Do you judge based purely on ability or how good they were relative to competition/era. Daniel was a good player and very likeable, I remember he used to try and rev up the crowd at corners by throwing his arms up, etc. He also wanted to play for NZ but was just a little too old to get citizenship in time. From memory he played his last season in Thailand with the interestingly named Police United
One of my favorite Nix players for sure even though I don't think he would stand out these days or compare in quality to someome like DaVila. He played the game In a good spirit and was entertaining to watch (I'd put Sasse in that category too although he had a higher ratio of frustrating to quality moments).