Shaun Hart

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Shaun Hart

Personal information
Full name Shaun Hart
Date of Birth May 17, 1971 (1971-05-17) (age 37)
Place of Birth Ferntree Gully, Victoria
Recruited from Shepparton United Football Club (Goulburn Valley Football League)
Draft TBC, 1989
Brisbane Bears
Height/Weight 175cm / 75kg
Position Midfielder
Playing Career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1989-1996
1997-2004		 Flag of Queensland Brisbane Bears
Flag of Queensland Brisbane Lions		 102 (81)
171 (96)
¹ Club statistics to end of Preliminary final, 2004 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}

Shaun Hart (born 17 May 1971) is a three-time Australian Football League premiership-winning utility player for the Brisbane Lions.

He was born in Ferntree Gully, Victoria and was recruited to the Brisbane Bears from Shepparton United Football Club in the 1989 national AFL draft, playing his first senior game in the first match of the 1990 season.

He initially struggled with the demands of professional football and played a great deal of football in reserve grade. Ironically, this allowed him to gain a place in the Bears' only premiership side by being eligible to play in the 1991 reserve grade Grand Final.

At some point around this time Hart became a born again Christian, an event which he credits with helping provide him with some direction in his life.

In 2001 he was awarded his highest individual honour, the Norm Smith Medal, as best on ground in the Lions' first premiership win. He also went on to play important roles in the Lions successful campaigns in 2002 and 2003.

In the 2004 Preliminary Final, with the Lions poised to enter a playoff for a record-equalling fourth consecutive premiership, Hart was unlucky enough to find himself in the path of teammate Daniel Bradshaw on a lead. Bradshaw was unable to avoid a collision and Hart emerged with massive facial injuries. He was immediately taken to hospital, where shocked medical staff commented that his injuries were consistent with being in a car crash at speed without wearing a seat belt. As a consequence of consistent head injuries, for much of his career, he wore a soft helmet.

Unable to take his place in the Lions side for the 2004 Grand Final, he was forced to watch from his hospital bed as his team failed to maintain a halftime lead over Port Adelaide due to injuries to key forwards Jonathan Brown and Alastair Lynch. He announced his retirement from football not long afterwards.

Not long after retiring, Hart supported the newly-formed, Christian-aligned Family First Party in 2004 Federal election to the Australian House of Representatives. He currently works as a football commentator for radio and has a personal a group trainer of Bodyfit.

In 2007 he stood as a Family First candidate in Queensland for the Senate at the 2007 Australian federal election[1], although he was unsuccessful.

Shaun Hart becomes senior coach for AFLQ powerhouse, Broadbeach Cats. He is rumoured to become player-coach.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Lions star runs for Family First", The Australian, 2007-11-02. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2001 AFL Premiers (1st premiership)
v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2002 AFL Premiers (2nd premiership)
v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2003 AFL Premiers (3rd premiership)
Preceded by
James Hird		 Norm Smith Medallists
2001		 Succeeded by
Nathan Buckley