Bernie Harris has a special place in the world of football trivia. He was one of just 14 players to wear the colours of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy pre-merger, and not only played in the first Brisbane Bears game and their first win, but he kicked the first Brisbane goal too.
And as the Brisbane Lions prepare to play St.Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Friday night the 175cm rover originally from Mortlake also has a special place in the shared history of the Lions and the Saints.
He is one of 18 players to play for both clubs since 1987, and the only one to do so in the same year.
Brother of 186-game Fitzroy rover turned Lions recruiting ace Leon Harris, the ‘Rock Spider’, as he is known, is the fourth-last player in AFL history to change clubs mid-season.
A 46-game Fitzroy player from 1984-86 before joining the Bears in 1987, he played Rounds 1-2-3-4-5-6-9 in 1990 to take his career games tally to 102 and his Bears games tally to 46. Five weeks later he played his 103rd game for St.Kilda.
“I figured my time at the Bears was done. My old man (Jack) was crook and somebody needed to get home to help look after the farm. And then out of the blue I got a call from (St.Kilda coach) Ken Sheldon,” Harris recounted this week.
He had played one game for his former club Mortlake after arriving home when he was picked up by St.Kilda in the first AFL Mid-Season Draft. He was pick #33 after the Bears claimed Laurence Schache at #1.
He played one more game for Mortlake before joining the Saints for the rest of the season, driving two hours each way to training. He played five games in the seniors and five games in the reserves before retiring. His 107th and last game was the day before his 28th birthday.
Now 60 and father to daughters Meg (27), Elly (24) and Tessa (21), Harris still lives with wife Jacinta on the farm, located halfway between Mortlake and Terang, but he’s no longer a farmer. Having sold his cows 10 years ago, he leases his property to a neighbour and works casually in forestry and disability.
There’s no questioning his football loyalty – he’s a strong Brisbane man and hopes to get to the game against St.Kilda on Friday night – if Leon can get him a couple of tickets.
“Going to Brisbane was the best move I ever made. We had a great time, we won a few games, and helped set up for the club. And if we were based at the Gabba from the start instead of Carrara it would have been a whole lot better,” said the ever-popular rover.
Harris was the only player to play for two AFL clubs in 1990. He was followed in 1991 by Queenslander Trevor Spencer (Melbourne/Geelong) and in 1992 by Ian McMullin (Essendon/Collingwood) and David Johnston (Essendon/Fitzroy) before the Mid-Season Draft was abolished.
Harris was the third member of the Brisbane/St.Kilda common players group behind foundation Bears teammates Mark Buckley (1987) and Robert Mace (1988), and ahead of Rod Owen and Russell Jeffrey (1992), Adrian Fletcher and Danny Craven (1993) and Gilbert McAdam (1994).
In 2001 Steven Lawrence, son of St.Kilda champion Barry Lawrence, moved from the post-merger Lions to the Saints with Brett Voss, and was followed into the common players group by Trent Knobel (2002), Jason Gram (2004), Matthew Clarke and Jayden Attard (2007), Colm Begley (2009), Xavier Clarke and Matt Maguire (2010) and Billy Longer (2012).
Brisbane v St.Kilda – Head-to-Head
Brisbane enjoy an aggregate 26-25 head-to-head record against St.Kilda, having won eight in a row from 1998-2002. They’ve got a 16-6 edge at the Gabba after it was 2-2 at Carrara in the Bears days. It is 3-8 the Saints at Marvel Stadium and was 3-4 at Waverley and 1-5 at Moorabbin.
AFL Goes to Wellington
For the mathematicians, that’s 25-25 overall. Brisbane and St.Kilda also played the first AFL game for premiership points off-shore on Anzac Day 2014. It was in Wellington, New Zealand, in front of a crowd of 13,409, where the Lions withstood a late Saints charge to get home 12-10 (82) to 11-13 (79) after being 25 points up at halftime.
It was Justin Leppitsch’s first win in his sixth game as Lions coach and came after Jack Redden kicked the winner. St.Kilda’s Leigh Montagna had 37 possessions and kicked two goals for three Brownlow Medal votes, while Redden’s 29 possessions and two goals earned him two votes, and Lenny Hayes’ 34 possessions for St.Kilda was worth one vote.
Only three Brisbane players from that game are still with the club - Darcy Gardiner, who played his second game in Wellington, Dayne Zorko and Ryan Lester. Seb Ross, Jimmy Webster and Jack Billings, yet to play this season, are the only Saints still at Moorabbin.
Friday Night in Melbourne
It’s a rare treat for the Lions, who played Carlton at Marvel in Round 8, to draw two prime-time Friday night games in the football capital in such quick succession. After all, in 18 years since 2005, excluding finals, they’ve only had three in total. And one of them in Round 4 last year was in Geelong. The other one was against St.Kilda at Marvel in Round 22 last year. The good news is they’ve got two more to come this year – against Melbourne at the MCG in Round 18 and Collingwood at Marvel in Round 22.
Highs & Lows
Oddly, Brisbane’s highest and lowest score against St.Kilda both came in 1997. They kicked 23-16 (154) at the Gabba in Round 2, thanks chiefly to a career-best five goals from Clark Keating and four each to Chris Johnson and Justin Leppitsch, to post the club’s biggest win over St.Kilda by 97 points. And they struggled to 5-15 (44) in Round at Waverley, when they lost by 48 points.
St.Kilda’s highest score against Brisbane is 28-18 (196) at Marvel in Round 22 2005, when Stephen Milne kicked 11 goals in a 139-point win, and their lowest is 5-15 (45) at Waverley in Round 19 1994 when Brisbane won by 10 points.
Most Games
Simon Black, Marcus Ashcroft and Darryl White shared the Brisbane record for most games against St.Kilda at 20, from Michael Voss, Shaun Hart and Nigel Lappin (19), Luke Power, Jason Akermanis and Chris Johnson (18). Robert Harvey, St.Kilda games record-holder and now assistant-coach, has played 28 games for the Saints against Brisbane to head the overall list. Next best for St.Kilda are Stewart Loewe and Nathan Burke (24), Nick Riewoldt (19) and Lenny Hayes (18).
Brownlow Medal Votes
Simon Black heads Brisbane voting in the Brownlow Medal against St.Kilda, polling six times for 14 votes, with three three-voters. Michael Voss polled five times for 11 votes, while Jason Akermanis (7), Hugh McCluggage (6), Shaun Hart (6), Daniel Merrett (5) and Nigel Lappin (5) are next best. Stewart Loewe heads the overall vote count with 18, having polled seven times with five best afield ratings, from Leigh Montagna (13), Lenny Hayes (12), Nick Riewoldt (11), Tony Lockett (11) and Robert Harvey (9).
Leading Possession-Winners
Michael Voss played his 289th game and last game against St.Kilda at the Gabba in 2006, polling 34 possessions for two Brownlow votes. This sees him lead the 30-possesion games list for the club against the Saints with three, from Simon Black, Lachie Neale, Dayne Beams, Tom Rockliff and Nigel Lappin (2). Rockliff shares the single-game record of 39 possessions with St.Kilda’s Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes. Harvey and Leigh Montagna had most 30-possessions games at five, from Hayes (4), Jack Steven, David Armitage, Seb Ross and Nick Dal Santo (3).
Leading Goal-Kickers
Alastair Lynch kicked eight goals in his first game for Brisbane against St.Kilda at the Gabba in Round 4 1994 and, despite seven years of football before him and 19 years after it he still holds the club record against St.Kilda. He kicked 8-3 to polled one medal vote. He bettered the previous best of six, set by Bernie Harris in a career-best performance in 1987, and matched by Jonathan Brown , Jarrod Molloy and Jason Akermanis.
But St.Kilda boasts the top seven individual goal hauls between the clubs. Tony Lockett’s 12 in his 150th game at Moorabbin in 1992, when the Saints won by 108 points, is the best. He also kicked 11 at Waverley in 1993 and 10 at the Gabba in 1991. Stephen Milne kicked 11 at Marvel Stadium in 2005, while Lockett, Stewart Loewe and Nick Riewoldt each had bags of nine.
St.Kilda Form Guide
The Saints, who finished 10th last year a game and percentage outside the top eight, have been an early surprise packet this year and have sat inside the top eight every week after a 4-0 start against Fremantle (15 points), Western Bulldogs (51 points), Essendon (18 points) and Gold Coast (53 points). They alternated loss-win since then. They didn’t lose any friends in any going to Collingwood by five points at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round, and beat Carlton (22 points), lost to Port Adelaide at Marvel (7 points), beat North (30 points), lost badly to Adelaide in Adelaide (52 points), beat GWS in Sydney (12 points), lost surprisingly to Hawthorn (10 points), and after a bye beat Sydney in Sydney (14 points) and lost to Richmond (20 points) last week.
Jack Sinclair, club champion and All-Australian last year, has been the standout St.Kilda player through the first half of the year, polling 49 votes in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award to rank 8th overall. Callum Wilkie, who will play his 99th consecutive game from debut on Friday night, is 16th with 38 votes, while Rowan Marshall (23), Mitch Owens (18) and Mason Wood (16) also have polled well.
Sinclair, averaging 28.2 possessions a game to rank 15th in the League, is the Saints’ No.1 ball-winner from Brad Crouch (27.8), captain Jack Steele (22.9), Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (22.0), Brad Hill (21.1), Hunter Clark (20.6), Mason Wood (20.6) and Callum Wilkie (20.3).
Small forwards Jack Higgins (25) and Dan Butler (21) lead the goal-kicking from Owens (15), Max King (13 in in four games), rookie Anthony Caminiti (12), Jade Gresham (11) and Wood (10).
