A new Jason Richards tribute book will be out for Christmas 2012, with all profits going to the Sienna and Olivia Education Trust. The book will be an illustrated history of the popular racing driver's career and life and the battle with cancer that he lost nearly 12 months ago.

Richards started his racing career in karts in New Zealand before progressing into Formula Ford in both his homeland and Great Britain before returning home to dominate the local touring car racing. He won three national titles before making his debut in the V8 Supercar Championship and becoming a three-time runner-up in the Bathurst 1000.

His story though is much more than that, it is a story of a man whose natural charm won an army of fans, including some of his peers like John Bowe and engineer Wally Storey who have written forewards for the book.

“I have so many memories of Jason that I have never really committed to print, this is my chance to tell a little bit of a story and show people a little bit more about Jason,” author Andrew Clarke said recently. “We had discussed a book of much greater written substance to this, but the battle he was fighting took too much energy to talk about himself.

“What he wanted to do was tell the story of his life so that Sienna and Olivia could understand their dad a little more as they grow up. We missed being able to tell that story, but now at least we can let them understand him through the eyes of those around him, while also giving back a little more to the girls that meant the world to him.

“The motorsport photographers of Australia have to be thanked in advance for donating their pictures for this, and I think their willingness to do something like this shows you a little more about the measure of the man.”

The book will be published by P101 for the Sienna and Olivia Education Trust with the support of his wife Charlotte and parents David and Pauline.

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Matthew Lloyd at his peak was a goal kicking machine in an era where the power forward was fading from the game. A five-time all Australian, he topped the AFL goal kicking three times in his 270 game career and kicked the ton twice, his first in the Essendon Premiership season of 2000.

Born into a football family, it was clear early in his career that he had the ability to surpass his father John's 29 games with Carlton. For a while it looked he would head to Carton as well, but Essendon conjured up a complex deal to secure the talented 16-year-old in the 1994 pre-season draft. Brothers Simon and Brad each played football too and are now involved with the Fremantle Football Club, and sister Kylie works on The Footy Show at Channel 9. His mother Bev, even met his father at the football. Sport, and in particular football, was and remains in the blood.

This book is the story of a kid driven by a fear of failure to climb the highest peaks in football. Of a young footballer who taught himself a process to become the most accurate shot for goal in the AFL after a tirade from one his coaches. It is how a boy with natural ability became the captain of the Essendon Football Club, a premiership player and a life member of the AFL.

And now it is about the transformation into devoted father and a multi-media expert on AFL when it looked like from the outside his career was cut short before its time; of a testy relationship with his final coach and the bone crunching hit that saw him finish his time as a player on suspension. It looks at how he considered a future with other clubs before deciding to retire on his terms.

Above all, it is a brutally honest account of an astonishing career from a man who is a straight shooter in more ways than one.

Below is an unused extract from the Paperback edition of Straight Shooter from a lunchtime discussion with some of Lloydy's teammates...

Andrew Clarke: Any interesting stories about him?

Angus Monfries: He wasn’t the worst paid player going round in the league, and when we went to Las Vegas on our annual footy trips, Lloydy and I would always start off by playing on the $20 black jack table and Lloydy would get a black jack – and the excitement in his face from him winning $25 was unbelievable. A little win on a black jack table meant so much to him. It was funny.

AC: Is he the Pretty Boy Lloyd or the Velvet Sledgehammer?

Mark McVeigh (Spike): On the field he’s the Velvet Sledgehammer but off the field he takes good care of himself, so he’s really both.

Jobe Watson: He’s always got a nice rinse in his hair. He was denying it for a while but he came unstuck one day and he put his hand up and said that he’d been getting a hair rinse for a while. We enjoyed that for quite an amount of time. He gets this funny little bit of stubble on his face too, when Jaeda was born he probably had a few tough nights of sleep and he used to roll into training sometimes with the little bit of stubble that he gets. You knew he’d had a tough night with the baby and hadn’t had much sleep, which he didn’t cope with because he’s pretty fond of his sleep.

Andrew Welsh: On a couple of footy trips he may have had a few and said a few things to people from overseas, but the funny thing is he was quick to exit. I won’t go into detail but he’s the best for giving it but when the heat’s on, you turn around and there’s no Matthew Lloyd – and he started it. Lloydy’s more a lover than a fighter, I think. He is pretty quick-witted but and sometimes if you listen to him on the radio now, he’s always up for a challenge with a fellow commentator or an ex-player. I think we’ve all been at the end of one of Lloydy’s little smart comments or seen it and had to cover for him at some stage.

Jobe: Spike spoke about his room service and it just reminded me of a funny story. We were in Vegas a few years back and we knew that Lloydy loved his room service. We all come home one night and Dean Solomon and I were in a room just up the hallway, we knew Lloydy would get in and order his room service and be sitting there waiting. As soon as we got to our room, I made up a note saying ‘I am not in this room, I’m in my friends room, we’re in blah-blah-blah. Please bring room service there’. We were sitting there and we here the trolley rattling down the hallway, it stopped up the hall and then started rattling our way. There was a spaghetti bolognaise, spring rolls, Diet Coke and water, so Solly and I sat there and ate all the food – we had a great time. We put all the lids back on everything as though it hadn’t been touched and then took the trolley to his door, grabbed the sign, knocked on the door and ran back to our room. We stuck our head out just enough to see when he opened the door, he pulled up the lid and there was no food in there and he’s looking around, We were just dancing around and he was shattered. I think we saved one spring roll for him, just for a laugh. He did love his room service at the end of a night.

Spike: We found out he wasn’t a fan of camping. We’ve been on two footy trips where we had to camp, the first one was at Cann River and we’re all sitting around the fire and Dean Solomon’s had put a full can of baked beans in the fire, Lloydy was sitting closest to the fire. These beans are bubbling away inside the can and eventually it exploded. All you could hear was Lloydy screaming, ‘I’ve been hit! I’ve been hit!’ Then a couple of years ago we were on a Tasmanian trip, we were all surviving in groups. Lloydy was in charge of putting up the tent. He’s standing there with the canvas and poles everywhere and he’s just looking around, a bit like a little lost dog. Sam Lonergan, one of the young kids, has gone over there and asked, ‘Lloydy, do you need a hand?’ He said, ‘That would be fantastic, Sam, thanks.’ So Sam picked up some things and looked at the instructions and turned around to look for  Lloydy and he’s gone, he’s just left him there to put the tent up. Sam assembled the tent and Lloydy comes back and says, ‘Oh, thanks, Sam.’ Sam’s left outside and Lloydy took the tent.

Angus: He’s a five-star man, Lloydy.