Brad Ebert plays his 250th AFL game this weekend and continues a proud family history at Port Adelaide
Even after 249 AFL games, one of Craig and Christine Ebert’s favourite photos of son Brad was taken when he was just 17 and before he’d even debuted. And on the eve of his special milestone it says so much about the family and Port Adelaide.
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Even after 249 AFL games, one of the favourite photos Craig and Christine Ebert have of their son Brad was taken when he was just 17 and before he’d even played one.
They were reminded of it two weeks ago and it says so much about the family and their football club - Port Adelaide.
“We’ve got this picture of him when he debuted for the Magpies in the SANFL, he was 17 and Mark Clayton who was captain at the time, they ran out together,” Craig said.
“It’s a brilliant photo in the traditional Magpies jumper.
“Then for him to come back a few years later (after being drafted to West Coast) and wear the jumper in that (AFL) final (in 2014) was magnificent, but the Showdown (2020) the other week was like the ultimate vision.
“It was emotional to see Bradley and the boys running out in that having done all the family things with the club.
“It was all a bit surreal, you watch your kids grow up and you have these thoughts of what they could do and you hope it happens, and then when it does, you just think ‘this is amazing’.
“We’ve been very fortunate because a lot has got to go right.”
It’s somewhat fitting that Ebert plays game number 250 on Saturday against West Coast - the club that drafted him as a teenager and where he played the first 76 games of his career.
Craig can still remember the uncomfortable feeling he had as he sat on the plane to Perth with his son shortly after the 2007 draft.
“It was more that he was only 17 than going to Perth because that was the last year 17-year-olds were allowed to be drafted,” Craig said.
“And at that point West Coast had been in the headlines and Christine and I were worried about it.
“But as it turned out when he got there they were really good, they devoted that much work to getting the culture right that he was in a really safe place.
“They put him in a great host family - Jo and Terry Taylor - and they came to his wedding and we stayed in their spare room when we went over.
“So as parents once we’d been over and met them, we just felt that much better that he was in good hands with that family and the West Coast Eagles.”
Ebert’s first AFL game was against Adelaide at Football Park in Round 2, 2008, when the Eagles lost by 76 points.
Craig and Christine were there that day and they averaged about four trips to Perth a year while Ebert’s career was taking off.
“My wife would be searching for flights and every now and then she’d come out the backyard and yell out ‘I’ve got us on a flight for so much dollars and we’re out on Friday and back on Sunday’, so we did a bit of that which was good fun.
“And in the end we were used to the Western Australian flight.”
Life got less complicated at the end of 2011 when Ebert was traded ‘home’ to Port Adelaide for draft picks 28 and 49.
“That was great for us as a family. We left it for him to make the decision and Port was keen to get him back but it was up to him to decide if and when it was time,” Craig said.
“And after four years he’d grown from a 17-year-old kid to a 21-year-old adult, and coming back was brilliant.”
Port Adelaide wasn’t in a great place at the time, financially crippled and having just finished the season in 16th spot on the ladder, but Ebert was.
He finished runner-up in the best-and-fairest in his first season and was named vice captain under Travis Boak as the Power returned to the finals under Ken Hinkley.
It remains one of his proudest achievements and will only be surpassed by a premiership.
“Coming to a club in a pretty bad position in 2012 I’ve been able to help get it out of that period,” Ebert said this week.
“So being a part of that as well, helping the club get out of that financial turmoil has been a moment I look back on and be proud of.
“But the other thing is I’m just super keen on adding that premiership to the name before my career ends.”
Ebert’s return to Alberton was a homecoming in every sense given his rich family history at the football club.
“We’ll spend some time going over his career and as we know the Ebert name at Port Adelaide is royalty and he holds his head high in that regard,” current Power assistant coach Michael Voss said on SEN on Friday.
But the respect for Ebert extends well beyond the Port. During the week the Power posted a video from the AFL’s captains day where rival skippers were asked to reflect on Ebert’s career.
Among the plaudits were: “very durable”, “one of my toughest opponents”, “model of consistency”, “terrific two-way player”, “will do anything for the team” and “team-first mentality”.
But Richmond’s Trent Cotchin went one step further beyond his football career.
“Fantastic person,” Cotchin said.
That means as much if not more to Craig than anything Ebert has done on the field.
“Everything he is as a person, it’s been brilliant,” he said.
Craig and Christine won’t be on the Gold Coast for Saturday’s milestone game but Ebert was joined in Queensland on Friday by wife Bec and his sons Leo and Henry in a sign the Ebert name might not be done at Alberton just yet.
reece.homfray@news.com.au