Shaun Hart

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**Shaun Hart**
Personal Info
Birth	17 May 1971, Ferntree Gully, Victoria
Recruited from	Shepparton United Football Club (Goulburn Valley League)
Height/Weight	175cm / 75kg
Playing Career¹
Debut	Round 1, March 31, 1990, Brisbane Bears vs. Richmond, at Carrara
Team(s)	Brisbane Bears (1990-1996) 102 games, 81 goals Brisbane Lions (1997-2004) 171 games, 96 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2005 season
Career Highlights
Brisbane Lions premiership side 2001, 2002, 2003 Brisbane Lions Grand Final side 2004 Norm Smith Medal 2001

Shaun Hart (born 17 May 1971) is a three-time Australian Football League premiership-winning utility player for the Brisbane Lions.

He was born in Ferntree Gully, Victoria and was recruited to the Brisbane Bears from Shepparton United Football Club in the 1989 national AFL draft, playing his first senior game in the first match of the 1990 season.

He initially struggled with the demands of professional football and played a great deal of football in reserve grade. Ironically, this allowed him to gain a place in the Bears' only premiership side by being eligible to play in the 1991 reserve grade Grand Final.

At some point around this time Hart became a born again Christian, an event which he credits with helping provide him with some direction in his life. Not the most skilled of footballers, he built up his strength and tackling ability to ensure that he continued to be picked in the senior side every week.

In 1999 Leigh Matthews was appointed coach of the Brisbane Lions (having by this time merged with Fitzroy) and, like many of his teammates, Hart responded to the new coaching regime become one of the fiercest (yet fairest) taggers in the League. In 2001 he was awarded his highest individual honour, the Norm Smith Medal, as best on ground in the Lions' first premiership win. He also went on to play important roles in the Lions successful campaigns in 2002 and 2003.

In the 2004 Preliminary Final, with the Lions poised to enter a playoff for a record-equalling fourth consecutive premiership, Hart was unlucky enough to find himself in the path of teammate Daniel Bradshaw on a lead. Bradshaw was unable to avoid a collision and Hart emerged with massive facial injuries. He was immediately taken to hospital, where shocked medical staff commented that his injuries were consistent with being in a car crash at speed without wearing a seat belt.

Unable to take his place in the Lions side for the 2004 Grand Final, he was forced to watch from his hospital bed as his team failed to maintain a halftime lead over Port Adelaide due to injuries to key forwards Jonathan Brown and Alastair Lynch. He announced his retirement from football not long afterwards.

Not long after retiring, Hart supported the newly-formed, Christian-aligned Family First Party in 2004 Federal election to the Australian House of Representatives. He currently works as a football commentator for radio and has a printer cartridge business.