The biggest AFL players who have joined Gold Coast QAFL clubs throughout history
Considered by many to be the best to ever play the game, Wayne Carey drew thousands through the gate during his time playing on the Gold Coast.
Local Aussie Rules
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Aussie Rules. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The 2022 QAFL season looms as one of the biggest in recent memory, with the number of household names featuring on club lists across the competition at a near highest.
On the Gold Coast, ex-AFL stars the likes of Liam Jones (Carlton), Lachie Henderson (Geelong), Cam Ellis-Yolmen (Brisbane) and of course, Jarrod Harbrow (Gold Coast) will all feature in the quest for QAFL premiership glory.
But this isn’t the first time big names have called the QAFL their footy home.
The Bulletin looks back on some of the biggest names to feature for Gold Coast clubs in the QAFL over the years – a list that includes premiership players, All-Australians and yes, even the King himself.
Wayne Carey (Palm Beach Currumbin)
‘The King’ brought 500 footy fans through the gate at Salk Oval to watch perhaps the best player in the game’s history do his thing for the Lions in a one-off QAFL appearance. Five years are he announced his AFL retirement Carey pulled on the boots for Palm Beach Currumbin in 2009, though he lasted less than five minutes before tearing his calf in what could only be described as a major anticlimax. Still, the Lions can lay claim to having had the biggest name to ever play in the QAFL at their club.
Lachie Henderson (Labrador)
Former Brisbane, Carlton and Geelong key defender Henderson moves straight off the Cats’ AFL list and into Labrador coach Nick Malceski’s backline for the 2022 season. Like Liam Jones at Palm Beach Currumbin, Henderson enters the QAFL fresh from the AFL and should immediately boost the Tigers’ premiership hopes. At 32 and with more than 200 AFL games to his name, Henderson is without question one of the biggest names to enter the competition.
Liam Jones (Palm Beach Currumbin)
In a simpler world Jones would be in the midst of another AFL pre-season in Carlton’s push for a long-awaited return to finals football. Instead he finds himself on the Coast, to Palm Beach Currumbin’s benefit. At 30 years old Jones still has years of quality football ahead of him. He should be one of the most impactful players in the QAFL this year, both on-field and off, as he helps coach the Lions’ backline.
Cameron Ellis-Yolmen (Labrador)
The ex-Crow and Brisbane Lion joined Jones in exiting the AFL due to the competiton’s Covid vaccine mandate and, wishing to stay in southeast Queensland, linked with Labrador on the eve of the 2022 season. A midfield bull who at his best was a walk-up starter at the Crows and Lions, Ellis-Yolmen fell out of favour at Brisbane but still looms as one of the best players in the QAFL entering season 2022.
Jarrod Harbrow (Broadbeach)
Drafted by the Western Bulldogs as a rookie, the Cairns product would go on to play 262 AFL games including 192 at the Gold Coast Suns. Retiring at the end of the 2021 season Harbrow, who all throughout his career would look to give back to his community wherever possible, signed on with Broadbeach for the 2022 QAFL season. Harbrow told The Bulletin his focus would be on developing the Cats’ young players and acting as a mentor, though he will undoubtedly be a major on-field asset for Broadbeach in its premiership defence.
Jason Cloke (Broadbeach)
Cloke played 76 games and kicked 10 goals for Collingwood between 2002-06. The brother of 256-gamer Travis Cloke, Jason joined Broadbeach in 2019 and won the QAFL leading goalkicker award, booting 47 goals to help the Cats reach the finals. He decided not to return in 2020, as the Cats – with new recruit Jordan Moncrieff at centre-half forward, went unbeaten before an upset grand final loss to Morningside.
Jack Anthony (Palm Beach Currumbin)
Former Collingwood and Fremantle forward Anthony is one of the few AFL players to have an enduring stint in the QAFL post-professional playing career. After his 51 games and 83 goals in the AFL, Anthony eventually found himself on the Gold Coast with the Southport Sharks for the 2015 NEAFL season. In 2018 Anthony signed for Palm Beach Currumbin, kicking five goals in his club debut as the Lions romped to an 81-point win over their 2017 grand final rivals Labrador. Anthony has remained at Palm Beach since then, regularly kicking bags of goals and establishing himself as a premiere forward in the competition.
Barry Hall (Labrador)
Perhaps one of the biggest signings in QAFL history was the Tigers’ acquisition of big, bad, bustling Barry Hall. The 289-game AFL superstar, who kicked a staggering 746 goals in his career, joined Labrador for the 2017 QAFL season. Vision of Hall punching Palm Beach Currumbin players during Labrador’s 2017 grand final defeat went viral. Then-Tigers coach Aaron Shattock revealed that Hall would not return to the club in 2018, citing spectator abuse as his reason for permanently hanging up the boots.
Pearce Hanley (Labrador)
Fresh from his AFL retirement, former Gold Coast Suns star Pearce Hanley linked with Labrador for the 2021 QAFL season and had an instant impact. Playing predominantly as a midfielder, Hanley’s silky skill and extreme pace made him one of the most damaging ball users in the competition. In a stacked Labrador midfield the Irishman was a regular standout, and a big reason the Tigers won the minor premiership. Hanley will not to return to the club for the 2022 season, choosing to focus on his health and fitness business ventures.
Andrew Boston (Labrador)
The former Gold Coast Sun who is perhaps better known on the Glitter Strip for his recent successes with Southport in the NEAFL and VFL, Boston is the latest Labrador star signing. After leading Southport to second in its debut VFL season Boston decided to take a step back from elite-level footy and has found his home at the Tigers. The born-and-bred Gold Coaster played 16 games for the Suns between 2013 and 2015 and looms as the perfect midfield replacement for the outgoing Pearce Hanley.
Peter ‘Spida’ Everitt (Labrador)
Before he was spinning tracks with Triple M Gold Coast, Spida put together a Hall of Fame career with St Kilda and later Hawthorn and Sydney. Two years after announcing his retirement in 2008, Everitt joined Labrador for the 2010 QAFL season and helped the Tigers to the grand final. His was a short stint, however, as a disagreement with the coach at the time led to Spida exiting Labrador the following season.
Tim Notting (Labrador)
The former 200-game Brisbane Lions midfielder made waves when he joined the Tigers in 2010, with the Labrador coaching staff putting him at full-forward in what proved to be a master stroke.
Notting was third in the competition’s leading goalkicker by Round 10, with 37 goals to his name, and alongside a trio of fellow former AFL players in Spida Everitt, Aaron Shattock and Trent Knobel, helped Labrador to the QAFL grand final that season.
Notting also spent time as Surfers Paradise’s QAFL coach.
Trent Knobel (Labrador)
Knobel retired from the AFL at the end of the 2007 season after 75 games with three clubs. The ex-Richmond ruck kept the Tiger colours by joining Labrador after returning home to the Gold Coast. Knobel and fellow ex-AFL star Peter Everitt made for a potent ruck-tandem the envy of the league, helping the Tigers to a 2010 grand final against Morningside.
Aaron Shattock (Labrador)
One of the former AFL players who has had the biggest impact on the QAFL is Brisbane Lions premiership-winner, Shattock. The 2002 grand final winner joined Labrador ahead of the 2007 season after he was delisted by Port Adelaide at the end of 2006. He spent more than a decade the Tigers, first as a player and then acting as assistant coach during the club’s premiership seasons in 2015 and 2016 before stepping down at the end of the 2018 season.
Josh Fraser (Labrador)
Former Collingwood fan-favourite and one-time Gold Coast Sun Josh Fraser may not have tasted premiership success at AFL level, but he got to do so with Labrador in the QAFL. Fraser, a Suns reserves coach at the time, helped the Tigers to their maiden QAFL premiership – and first senior flag in 21 years – in the seven-point win over Morningside in 2015.
Matthew Lappin (Labrador)
Like Fraser, former Carlton star Matty Lappin got his first taste of senior premiership success with the Tigers in 2015. Lappin played 251 AFL games for St Kilda and Carlton, and coached the Gold Coast Suns’ NEAFL team alongside Fraser in 2015. It was a massive season for ‘Skinny’, who not only won the QAFL grand final with Labrador but was also forced to play himself in a NEAFL clash when the Suns were short of players.
Paul and Andrew Dimattina (Southport)
Paul and brother Andrew moved to the Gold Coast and linked with Southport in 2005, where the pair helped the Sharks to their 11th state league title that season. Paul kicked six goals in the grand final and was named best on ground, before retiring from footy entirely and returning to Melbourne.
He played 131 games for the Western Bulldogs between 1995 and 2003. Andrew meanwhile played 28 games and kicked six goals for Collingwood during his AFL playing stint between 1999 and 2002.
Luke McGuane (Broadbeach)
Broadbeach junior McGuane was a mid-season pick-up by the Cats in 2018, signing before the June 30 deadline and helping the club to a grand final appearance against Palm Beach Currumbin, in which they lost. McGuane played 105 games over nine seasons at Richmond and managed seven games with Brisbane, retiring at the end of 2015 citing a knee injury as the main reason. He briefly appeared again for the Cats in 2018 and found himself on an IV drip in hospital ahead of a Round 14 game against Surfers Paradise.
Craig O’Brien (Broadbeach / Palm Beach Currumbin)
From the time Craig O’Brien hung up the boots after 114 AFL games and 191 goals, the former Essendon, St Kilda and Sydney Swans small forward was ready to be a coach. O’Brien led Palm Beach Currumbin to four QAFL grand finals in five years at the helm, before an eight-year Gold Coast coaching hiatus when he moved to Central Queensland. O’Brien took over at Broadbeach for the 2020 season and led the Cats on an unbeaten run to the grand final that season, thought ultimately losing in a boilover to Morningside. But O’Brien and the Cats made amends in 2021, winning the club’s first senior premiership in 25 years. O’Brien has also overseen the upgrade of the club’s junior academy.
More Coverage
90+ names: The greatest players in QAFL history
Some may not be household names but these players are biblical within Queensland Aussie rules folklore. See the full list of standout stars since 1946 as we wait to uncover a new recipient in 2024.
Revealed: Top 50 performers from AFLQ Schools Cup SEQ semi finals
Hearts were shattered and state final tickets booked as top draft prospects right through to spritely year 7s shone at the AFLQ Schools Cup SEQ semi finals. See the top 50 players of the day.