Hall of Fame: Anthony Stevens gave his all in a career full of heart

ANTHONY Stevens was in excruciating pain but nothing was going to stop him winning a second premiership as few footballers encountered as many hurdles as he did during his career.

North Melbourne great Anthony Stevens says he made the most of his ability.

ANTHONY Stevens was in excruciating pain.

It was the third quarter of the 1999 Grand Final, and the tenacious North Melbourne midfielder was trying to stay involved in a game he had no right being in.

He had carried a fractured right heel and torn ligaments into the match, but coach Denis Pagan backed Stevens’ capacity to play under duress, albeit with painkilling injections. The injury should have kept him out for four months; he ended up not missing a game.

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He also tore his pectoral muscle in the course of the second quarter, just as the Kangaroos were tightening the screws on the Blues. More injections followed. But after halftime the painkillers in his foot wore off, and a searing pain pierced through his body.

Still, he kept pushing and pushing ... until he could push no more.

Almost 20 years on, Stevens has no regrets. His reward was a second premiership medallion, making it a companion to the one he won in 1996.

Anthony Stevens won two premierships and two best-and-fairests at North Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

“I was always going to do everything I could to play, it was a Grand Final, and how often are you going to play in those sort of games,” Stevens recalled.

Resilience, a fighting spirit and an unwavering belief in the team were among the traits that defined Stevens across 292 games from 1989 to 2004.

Few players have as successfully transformed themselves from run-with player into damaging midfielder as he managed. He shut down some of the game’s best players, then turned the tag back on them when he became an attacking, hard-running star of his own.

Along the way he won two best-and-fairests (1997 and 1999) in one of the Kangaroos’ most successful eras. He was ruck rover in the club’s Team of the Century, and was last year elevated to legend status in North Melbourne’s Hall of Fame.

Now he has won induction into one of the game’s most exclusive clubs, the Australian football Hall of Fame.

“I was driven by getting the best out of myself,” Stevens said.

“It is the motto of my life — you have got to give things 100 per cent. I wasn’t a particularly gifted player but I had the ability to make it into the AFL.

“Good players are not necessarily the ones with the most ability, but the ones who get the most out of themselves. That’s what I tried to do.”

Few footballers have encountered as many hurdles as Stevens did during his career. Through each one he stoically got on with the job — regardless of the pain.

Stevens holding the 1999 premiership cup.

Just six months after that 1999 premiership, he was almost killed when a shard of glass fell from the upstairs window of a hotel and severely cut his face and neck.

He lost two litres of blood and was told he would have died if it had taken him an extra 10 minutes to arrive at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

He was told he would never play football again; he returned within 14 weeks.

Two years after that he was caught up in a maelstrom not of his own making when it emerged his then wife, Kelli, was having an affair with Wayne Carey.

The media firestorm made Stevens front pages news. His private life became public property, even if he tried to keep his family out of it as much as he could.

Some wondered how it would affect his football; selflessly he took on the captaincy because he was told the club needed him to do it.

“I had some really challenging years ... doing the ankle and the pec muscle and being lucky enough to play in the (1999) Grand Final, then the following year having my neck injury and being determined to come back and play again,” he said.

“Then all of a sudden that (Carey) affair blew up. That was another mental strain on me and I had to deal with it.”

Anthony Stevens gave 100 per cent on the field.

Through it all, his workrate never dipped. Neither did his ability to make an on-field difference.

Stevens’ hardworking mantra was the product of growing up on the family’s dairy farm near Waaia, 40km north of Shepparton. As the eldest of five kids, he left school at 15 to help run the farm.

“Dad went truck driving for the survival of the farm, and I started work,” Stevens explained.

“Back then, the old man was paying 22 per cent interest and milk prices were rock bottom.”

“He would get up and start milking, and I would come across and finish it off for him.”

Two years later he was drafted by North Melbourne, and it kickstarted a career that made him one of the club’s favourite sons, even if that meant moving away from the bush.

Stevens is back living in Melbourne now, but his passion for the country has seen him join Elders Real Estate as a rural executive for Victoria and the Riverina region.

Stevens nearly died in 1999 after broken glass cut his neck and face.

His children, Ayva, 16, and River, 11, live with their mother in Echuca and he tries to get back to see them whenever he can.

“I moved to Melbourne when I was 17, but in many ways I have never really left the bush,” he said.

“I have now accepted Melbourne, but country is where my heart is.”

His children were with him in Adelaide on Tuesday night, as were others who were a part of his journey, including his parents, former coach Pagan, former teammates Glenn Archer and Leigh Colbert.

Stevens said: “You don’t play footy for these sort of things, it was always more about the acknowledgment of your teammates. But I’m very grateful for the honour. I am proud of what I have achieved to date, even though I still have plenty more goals for the future.”

More recently, Stevens has bounced back from a hip replacement, but remains fit and healthy, and understanding that for all the pain he has endured, he has emerged stronger.

ANTHONY STEVENS

Born: 1971

North Melbourne: 292 games, 1989-2004, 127 goals

Premierships: 1996, 1999

B&F: 1997, 1999

All-Australian: 1998

Victoria State of Origin: 1998

North Melbourne Team of the Century