Stats

Playing Career
1989-1996 – Brisbane Bears
1997-2004 Brisbane Lions

Games
273 (102 Bears, 171 Lions)

Goals
177 (81 Bears, 96 Lions)

Playing Honours
Lions Premiership Player – 2001, 2002, 2003
Norm Smith Medal – 2001
Victorian State Representative
Lions Life Member
Lions Team of the Decade (1997-2006)

Summary

He was dubbed the most selfless player in the AFL by Leigh Matthews and anyone privileged to have known him will agree. Shaun Hart epitomises all that is good about football.

He is one of the all-time greats of the Brisbane Lions and will forever be remembered as the winner of the Norm Smith Medal in the club’s first premiership in 2001 and a triple premiership icon.

But it wasn’t always the case. His AFL career was almost over before it really began. The boy from Shepparton had played just 17 games for the Brisbane Bears to the end of 1991 when coach Robert Walls was confronted by a daunting decision. One player had to go. It came down to Hart or Lachlan Sim.

That Walls stuck with Hart was to prove a master-stroke, and the pocket-sized left-footer with the trademark helmet repaid the faith every day thereafter.

The ultimate team man and a wonderful professional, he played 273 games, had seven top 10 finishes in the club championship, won a thoroughly-deserved Victorian State of Origin jumper at the peak of his career, and received Life Membership.

He’s also the master of the understatement, having once described himself as ‘just a working class man trying to help others’.

He’s much, much more than that, and he’s now he’s a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame.