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Despite having missed more than his fair share of games through injury, Clark Keating's invariably major impact when he does take the field has made him arguably one of the most important figures in the short history of the Brisbane Football Club. Combined great strength and power with formidable athleticism, Keating in full cry has few peers among ruckmen in the modern game. Given the fact that he tended to favour rugby and basketball in his youth, this is perhaps a trifle surprising, but once he turned his attention to the indigenous code his natural talent shone through. Third in the Grogan Medal with North Brisbane in 1994, he was a member of the Eagles' 1995 premiership side, and went on to make his AFL debut with Brisbane in 1996. As a new century dawned, and the Lions emerged as arguably the most potent force ever in Australian football, Keating was a key member of the 2001-2-3 premiership teams after often being used only sparingly by coach Leigh Matthews prior to the all important finals. |
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Ruck-rover - Scott McIvor (Wilston-Grange, Fitzroy, Brisbane) |
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A
Queensland Teal Cup representative in 1982, and captain of the team as
well as an All Australian the following year, Scott McIvor's prodigious
early talent was further evidenced by his being selected to play senior
interstate football while still aged just 17. The following year,
1985, he embarked on the long trek south to try his hand in football's
elite competition, the VFL, little realising that he would end up spending
the vast majority of the 200 game V/AFL career which followed playing out
of his home city of Brisbane. Initially, however, McIvor represented
Fitzroy, where times were tough.
"In the entire time I was there the club was in turmoil," he
later recalled. "You never knew from one day to the next what
was going to happen." (See footnote 1) It was
not that the Lions were a poor side, as they demonstrated in 1986 by
running 3rd, it was merely that off field events, notably the ever present
threat of bankruptcy, tended to provide a distraction. Nevertheless,
McIvor's own form was superb: he ran second to Paul Roos in the 1986 best
and fairest and count, and won it the following year, before making the
journey home to join the recently formed Brisbane
Bears in 1988.
In 10 seasons with the Bears McIvor developed into a recognisable stalwart of the club. Despite never winning the club's best and fairest award, he was almost invariably in the running, while his leadership qualities were recognised with his appointment as club vice captain in 1990. Several times a Queensland state of origin representative, he also enjoyed the peculiar distinction of being chosen to play for Victoria in 1989, at a time when Victoria's desperation to re-claim interstate superiority seemingly allowed it carte blanche access to any players whatsoever it wanted to select. When Brisbane assimilated Fitzroy after the 1996 season, McIvor was retained, but an injury beset 1997 saw him draw the curtain on his outstanding career twelve months later. |
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Rover - Gary Shaw (Western Districts, Claremont, Collingwood, Brisbane) |
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An on baller whose play oozed class, Gary Shaw was at his peak during the early 1980s, tying for the Simpson Medal with South Fremantle's Maurice Rioli after Claremont's winning 1981 WAFL grand final, and maintaining his form throughout 1982 when he won the Tigers' fairest and best award. He also represented his adopted state in the interstate arena, and it is probable that at that point there were few more damaging individuals playing the game anywhere. Unfortunately, Shaw's best form deserted him to a large extent when he headed east to Collingwood in 1983, and he managed just 32 games in 4 seasons at Victoria Park. It was a similar story when he returned home to Queensland to join the fledgling Brisbane Bears in 1987 as he managed just 6 games for the year before being released. However, on the basis of his superlative form in 1981 and '82 it would be difficult to deny his right to inclusion in this side. |
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1. Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club Yearbook 1997, page 35. Return to Main Text
