Imagine flying interstate 155 times for work. It’s more than most people will fly in a lifetime. Marcus Ashcroft did that and more.
Add on pre-season games and a few incidentals and it was more like 200 interstate trips for the former Brisbane Lions champion during a career that holds a special place in AFL history.
On one such trip in his final season in 2003 he became not just the first Queenslander to play 300 AFL games but the first non-Victorian.
It was Round 7. The Lions flew to Sydney to play the Swans at the SCG as the then 32-year-old celebrated a milestone which, on top of everything else, was a massive triumph for durability. And the lead story in the “Remember When …” series this week for Round 7.
In a competition which went national in 1987 two years before Ashcroft had arrived on the scene, Ashcroft became the first player to conquer not just the daily rigors of training and competition but the burden of repeat interstate travel.
Being based first on the Gold Coast and later in Brisbane his regular flying challenge was a little less taxing than Perth-based players who had joined the competition in 1987, but more so than players based in Sydney or Adelaide.
At a time when training regimes and recovery programs were nothing like as scientific as they are today, it was a remarkable effort for Ashcroft to maintain such a high level of performance for so long.
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In 15 years and 318 games in the AFL Ashcroft played at 15 different grounds, including 136 games at the Gabba and 27 games at Carrara for 163 in Queensland. He played 113 games in Victoria, 17 in WA, 15 in SA and 10 in NSW. Total 155 interstate.
Playing in the days before the occasional AFL game in Darwin, Canberra, Alice Springs, Cairns, Ballarat, Hobart, Launceston and even China, he visited nine different grounds in Victoria – MCG (38), Princes Park (22), Waverley Park (16), Marvel Stadium (13), Kardinia Park (9), Whitten Oval (8), Victoria Park (4), Moorabbin (2) and Windy Hill (1). He also played at Subiaco (14) and the WACA (3) in Perth, Football Park (15) in Adelaide and the SCG (10) in Sydney.
In further hot spots on his travel log, he played in the last AFL game at Essendon’s old home at Windy Hill in 1991, the last game at Collingwood’s Victoria Park in 1999, the fourth-last game at the Bulldogs’ Western Oval in 1996 and the eighth-last at Waverley in 1999. And he missed the fifth-last game at St.Kilda’s Moorabbin in 1992 through injury.
He played in the second AFL game at the Gabba in 1991, which was behind only the exhibition game between Hawthorn and Essendon in 1981, and the third game at what is now Marvel Stadium in 2000.
More than eight years on from Ashcroft’s retirement at the end of 2003 as a triple premiership player only a further 14 players based outside Melbourne for their entire career have cracked the 300-game barrier.
This list includes two Lions – Simon Black played his entire 322-game career based at the Gabba, while Luke Power, the only 300-gamer to split his career between two non-Victorian clubs, played 282 times with Brisbane and 20 with GWS in Sydney.
In chronological order, the frequent flyer platinum-plus five-star members of the AFL 300 Club are:-
2003 – Marcus Ashcroft (Brisbane)
2006 – Ben Hart (Adelaide)
2006 – Mark Riccuito (Adelaide)
2008 – Andrew McLeod (Adelaide)
2009 – Tyson Edwards (Adelaide)
2019 – Michael O’Loughlin (Sydney)
2011 – Adam Goodes (Sydney)
2012 – Simon Black (Brisbane)
2012 – Luke Power (Brisbane/GWS)
2012 – Jude Bolton (Sydney)
2014 – Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)
2015 – Kane Cornes (Port Adelaide)
2017 – Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney)
2019 – David Mundy (Fremantle)
2021 – Shannon Hurn (West Coast)
Sadly, Ashcroft’s 300th game in Sydney did not bring the win the club wanted to mark the occasion. The Swans led by 29 points at half-time and after the Lions pegged it back to three points 13 minutes from time the home side kicked the last three goals to win by 19 points.
Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin, two other frequent flyer platinum-plus five-star members of the AFL 300 Club, were in the Brownlow votes in what was also the 100th game for Brisbane’s Daniel Bradshaw.
Overall in Round 7 games Brisbane have posted a 14-21 win/loss record. They’ve gone a surprisingly low 8-11 at home, including a 2-2 split at Carrara in the early days. Other highlights include:-
1991 – AN UNLIKELY CASE OF ‘LEATHER POISONING’
In you had 20 guesses to pick the Brisbane player who has posted the highest possession count in a Round 7 game in club history you won’t get it. Thirty even, no way.
There had been 30 Round 7 games of 30+ split between 21 players. The 20 you can exclude from your ‘guesstimate’ include five who had multiple 30+ games - Simon Black (4), Tom Rockliff (3), Dayne Beams (3), Adrian Fletcher (2) and Craig Lambert (2).
Brenton Phillips, Geoff Raines, John Gastev, Michael McLean, Brad Hardie, Shane Hamilton, Danny Craven, Shaun Hart, Jason Akermanis, Nigel Lappin, Jed Adcock, Joel Macdonald, Pearce Hanley, Dayne Zorko and Hugh McCluggage have each had one 30-possession game in Round 7.
Who is the other one? Not Michael Voss. In 12 Round 7 games he had a best of 29 possessions. And not Lachie Neale. He’s had 29 and 20 and a ‘did not play’ in Round 7.
The unlikely best Brisbane Round 7 ‘ball magnet’ was ever-resolute defender Martin Leslie. He had a career-best 38 touches in an unforgettable game against Melbourne at the MCG in 1991, which the Bears chould have won but lost by 13 points.
Leslie, who holds a special place in AFL history as the first player chosen in the first AFL draft in 1986, had 15 kicks and 23 handballs as the Demon came from eight points down at three-quarter time to win 18-18 (126) to 17-11 (113). And he didn’t even figure in the Brownlow votes.
Teammate Michael McLean, with 35 possessions and a goal, was judged best afield, while Brad Hardie, with 30 possessions and a goal, received one vote. Two votes went to Melbourne ruckman Jim Stynes for his 32 possessions and a goal.
Darren Bennett, later to become an All-Star punter in the NFL, and sixth-gamer Darren Cuthbertson kicked five goals for Melbourne in what was the 150th game as a coach for Melbourne’s John Northey, who would later coach Brisbane. Cameron O’Brien topped the Bears goal-kicking with four.
Leslie’s big day out at the MCG was one of four 30-possession games as he averaged 17 possessions a game through a 107-game AFL career delayed by a stellar SANFL career with Port Adelaide.
1992 – EIGHT OUT OF ELEVEN? NOT BAD, BUT …
Ordinarily if a player kicks eight of his team’s 11 goals he’d mark it down as a game to remember. But not Brisbane’s John Hutton after his only Round 7 game for the club at Carrara in 1992.
It was an outstanding individual effort in just his sixth AFL game from the helmet-wearing full forward, but it was part of a nightmare.
In a game listed only because of Hutton’s standout showing and the overwhelming statistical significance (albeit bad) the Bears were beaten 11-9 (75) to 37-17 (239) by Geelong.
The game started badly when home captain Roger Merrett, the only 100-gamer in the Brisbane side and forced into the ruck due to a big man injury crisis, was injured at the first bounce and took no further part.
Tenth-gamer Simon Luhrs and Matthew Kennedy, in the top half of the side in experience in his 22nd game, were left to share the ruck duties as the Cats posted the highest score in AFL history.
They kicked seven goals in the first quarter, nine in the second, seven in the third and 14 in the last, when their tally of 14-3 (87) was the third-highest in any quarter in history.
Best afield Gary Ablett Snr kicked nine goals, Paul Brown six and Billy Brownless, Barry Stoneham, Peter Riccardi and Darren Forssman three each. Mark Bairstow (28 possessions, two goals) earned two votes and ruckman Steven Handley, originally from Southport, picked up one vote.
Hutton, the #1 pick in the 1991 Draft from Claremont in the WAFL, kicked 8-0 from 15 possessions as ex-Geelong player Shane Hamilton topped the Brisbane possession count with 35.
It was one of two eight-goal bags for Hutton in his 18 games for the Bears in 1992 before he played five games with Sydney in 1993 and 13 games with Fremantle in 1995. He also kicked eight in the club’s last game at Carrara during the Bears era in Round 23 1992.
2009 – A SPECIAL MCG WIN
Brisbane wins at the MCG have been both rare and special through the club’s 35 years in the AFL. So rare and so special that in 79 games they number just 18 yet include the three grand final wins.
An MCG win is still on the ‘to do’ list for current coach Chris Fagan, although his team has played there only six times, and since the 2004 preliminary final the club has won at headquarters only four times.
Only three times have the Bears/Lions played at the MCG in Round 7, and only once have they won. It was 2009 in Michael Voss’ seventh game as coach, when the Lions came from 19-point down at quarter-time to beat Richmond by 26 points in a cracker.
Things didn’t look good when the MCG scoreboard favored the Tigers 7-5 to 3-4 midway through the second term, but two standout performances at either end of the ground helped them kick 12 of the last 15 goals to win 15-7 (97) to 10-11 (71). And that despite two late ones for the home side.
A five-goal blitz in eight minutes early in the final stanza put it beyond doubt as Jonathan Brown, Justin Sherman, Daniel Bradshaw, Brown again and then Jed Adcock hit the scoreboard at 90-second intervals.
Brown was superb up forward, taking 11 marks (four contested, five inside 50) and kicking four goals to pick up three Brownlow votes. And in defence Daniel Merrett was equally influential in blanketing a succession of opponents to earn two votes.
2018 – A FAIRYTALE COMES TRUE
The Lions’ Round 7 clash against Collingwood at the Gabba in 2018 was special for lots of reasons despite the fact the home side lost by seven points in a torrid-plus contest.
Dayne Zorko had 34 possessions, made 10 tackles and kicked four goals in a super-human solo effort and Lewis Taylor kicked a career-best four goals. Oscar McInerney played his second game, Zac Bailey his four and Cam Rayner his seventh.
But for many, especially those within the club, the big story was one of the most unlikely debuts in AFL history by a player who had literally won an AFL contract in a television show.
Matt Eagles, originally from South Australia, was playing amateur football at Yeronga and operating a landscaping business when in 2016 he signed up for series two of ‘The Recruit’, which guaranteed an AFL rookie contract for the winner.
A powerful 200cm utility player, with unmissable dreadlocks and an undeniable spirit, he won it. And so he joined the Lions in 2017.
What started out as an impossible dream and quite possibly more of a publicity stunt than anything else suddenly grew a pulse when Eagles starred for the Lions Reserves in the back half of the NEAFL campaign. In the three-point grand final win over Sydney in Sydney he collected a League-high 17 intercept perceptions.
Against all odds he made his AFL debut in Round 7 2018. At 28 years and 86 days he was the club’s oldest debutant (imports aside). Wearing the #41 jumper, he did his job with 11 possessions (six contested).
Most importantly, Eagle had won over the playing group with his work ethic and his team-first ethos. He played the next three games, and the roar when the new cult hero kicked his first AFL goal against Hawthorn in Round 9 is still talked about.
Injury in Round 10 ended his season but he’d done enough to earn another contract. And even though he didn’t play at the top level in 2019 he was still there in 2020 and played Rounds 11-12 of the Covid-disrupted campaign.
Eventually, the lack of Reserves football and the emerging young talent at the club caught up with the then 30-year-old and he was delisted at the end of 2020. But never has there been a more popular player from the most unlikely of beginnings.
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