Brisbane great Simon Black has been inducted into the Australian football Hall of Fame

Simon Black’s football aspirations were temporarily put on hold as a teenager when diagnosed with a rare back disorder. And Ben Cousins, at that stage the best young footballer in Perth, came to his aid.

Simon Black has been inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.

Brisbane’s acclaimed 'Fab Four' has finally been reunited – in the Australian football Hall of Fame.

Simon Black has joined Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis and Nigel Lappin, with his elevation completing the midfield core instrumental in helping the Lions win three successive flags from 2001 to 2003.

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Hall of Fame selectors chose Black last year, but at the time his competitive urge had driven him to take part in Australian Survivor.

When that function took place last year, Black was in Fiji, deprived of food and sleep but fighting to stay in the game. Now, after pushing his induction back 12 months, he has dealt with a different induction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's a tremendous honour," Black, 41, told the Herald Sun. "As a kid growing up wanting to play AFL football, I never imagined I would play for as long as I did."

"To play as much footy as I did, and to have the success we had as a team, is incredibly humbling."

Black excelled across 16 AFL seasons – 322 games and 171 goals – leaving the game somewhat reluctantly in late 2013, armed with a myriad of medals.

Try these on for size – three premiership medals (2001-03), a Brownlow Medal (2002), a Norm Smith Medal (2003), three best and fairests (two in premiership years of 2001 and 2002, and another in 2006).

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Three of the ‘Fab Four’. Picture: David Kapernick

Brisbane’s ‘Fab Four’. Picture: David Sproule

Yet those stats and medals don’t adequately cover the artistry of watching Black’s role in one of the greatest midfield units of all-time.

Voss was the natural born leader. Akermanis was capable of doing anything at any time. Lappin was a relentless worker.

Black possessed all of those attributes.

A stylish left-footer who delivered the ball with tracer-like efficiency, he combined silky skills with a flint-hard edge which meant he could extract a Sherrin out of almost any predicament.

"I always felt it was like we were brothers playing in the backyard," Black said of the Lions' Fab Four.

"We just had a synergy, with a good mix of winning the ball on the inside and the outside.

"There was a selfless element in the way we played. It was just such a pleasure to play with them."

Black prided himself on being one of the Lions' "distributors" of the time.

"I got a kick out of being creator of play," the modest midfielder said.

"Whether it was winning the ball in a contest and dishing it out to space or being on the outside and finishing, I loved being that distributor."

Black's father, Ray, was a Kiwi who met his mother, Fran, in Perth.

"I was introduced to rugby before Aussie rules, with my dad being a Kiwi," he said.

"I played two or three years from about eight years old, but I quickly worked out I didn't really have the body type for rugby."

A competitive edge formed in the backyard with older brother Ben – a junior teammate of Ben Cousins at Bullcreek Leeming in Perth – drove Black to Australian football.

His parents recalled he always had a ball in his hands – sometimes two – which almost became "an extension of (his) arm."

Simon Black with his parents Fran and Ray..

"I just knew not being overly big or strong, I had to be clean below my knees," he said. "I had to not fumble and make quick decisions because I wasn't quick."

His ambitions were temporarily put on hold as a teenager when diagnosed with Scheuermann's disease – a disorder of the back where the vertebrae doesn't grow evenly.

"I had reached that age of 15 when you start to have (AFL) aspirations, so to have to step out of sport for period was really frustrating," he said.

"I remember the under 16s national carnival. Some of my friends made the state team and I couldn't play."

Cousins – already considered the best junior in Perth – assisted Black during this tough time.

"I met with Ben one day when I had my Scheuermann's issue early on," Black said.

"He was trying to keep my chin up when I was pretty down."

Black resumed after a trying 18 months, winning his way into the under 18s state team.

Hawthorn seemed a likely draft destination, given then coach Ken Judge's ties to Black’s East Fremantle, but Brisbane called his name as pick 31 in the 1997 draft.

"I was in shock. I had some mixed emotions moving so far away from home," he said.

His parents also made the move for the first six months which allowed him to settle into the city and the club.

Simon Black was wonderful to watch. Picture: Michael Dodge

Simon Black with 2001 premiership cup on his head. Picture: David Kapernick

Black played nine games in his debut season, ran third in the Rising Star award a year later, but came of age when the Lions became flag contenders.

He cited the Round 8 loss to Carlton in 2001 as a turning point. A post-game roast from Leigh Matthews sowed the seeds of the club's success.

"We got belted (against Carlton) and Leigh kept us in the sheds," he said.

"He said: 'We've got forwards only concerned about kicking goals, we've got midfielders who are unaccountable, and we've got defenders who won't defend.

“We became a more selfless team.”

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A fortnight later, Matthews produced his "if it bleeds you can kill it" line to inspire the Lions onto success over Essendon - the team they went onto beat in the Grand Final.

"It sort of became a player driven thing," he said.

"We went on to win 16 games straight and that first flag."

"I didn't have a great day (in the 2001 Grand Final), I was a bit overawed … but it was the start of a great run."

Twelve months later, Black won the Brownlow Medal, but recalled looking out the hotel window on Grand Final morning and feeling nervous.

Simon Black being chaired off the ground with Ash McGrath. Picture Darren England.

"It was bucketing down rain … I remember thinking it was going to be a hard task," he said.

"It became a game of inches. We could never quite get away from Collingwood, but we got over the line … cometh the hour cometh the man – Michael Voss."

Black made Grand Final history in 2003. As the Lions won their third successive flag, he had 39 disposals – the most any player has recorded in a Grand Final.

He won the Norm Smith Medal in one of the most talked-about individual Grand Final performances since Gary Ablett's nine-goal haul in 1989.

"When people talk about being in the zone, that's where I felt most at peace on the footy field," he said.

It was a different story when Port Adelaide ended Brisbane's quest for a fourth straight flag in 2004.

Black after winning the 2002 Brownlow Medal.

Simon Black after winning the 2002 Brownlow Medal with parents Fran and Ray.

Black uncharacteristically copped a three-game suspension for two incidents.

"I brushed past Damien Hardwick and he fell over like he was shot," Black joked. "I got two weeks then punched Kane Cornes in the guts and got a week."

Black built on his outstanding career, but his team never got as close again, though he enjoyed working with the next wave of Lions.

A routine knee clean up at the end of 2013 brought about his retirement.

"I was keen to play on for one more season but the surgeon said 'Mate, there is a lot more going on in your knee than the MRI suggested. If you want to be active into your 40s and 50s, footy is not for you anymore'."

It was the right call for him, his wife Catherine – who had supported him throughout his career – and his young family, which now comprises Lachlan (8), Lucas (6) and Evie (2).

Now he puts the same energy into the Simon Black Academy, an educational/football program developing young men and women in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

He hopes a graduate might one day experience the extraordinary highs he did in his AFL career.

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Originally published as Brisbane great Simon Black has been inducted into the Australian football Hall of Fame