RICHMOND great Royce Hart has become the 25th 'Legend' of the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Hart, who was centre half-forward in the Tigers' 1967, '69, '73 and '74 premiership teams and captained the club for four seasons, was conferred legend status at a gala function at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday night.


Despite ill-health, Hart attended the dinner and described being bestowed with the title as a legend as "an honour and a privilege".

He touched upon the controversial autobiography, the Royce Hart Story, which he published at the age of 22.

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In the book Hart named a team of players that he would most like to play alongside, and he named himself at centre half-forward.

He recalled that "Alf Brown wrote in the Herald, 'Royce Hart is not taking as many marks these days, because he can't get his arms above his enormous head.'"

Earlier in the evening, six others were inducted into the Hall of Fame.


They were champion Western Bulldogs midfielder Scott West, former Melbourne captain Hassa Mann, West Australian great Brian Peake, ex-Sturt ruckman Rick Davies, long-serving umpire Bryan Sheehan and Essendon great Matthew Lloyd.
 
West, who grew up in Melbourne's northern suburbs, played 324 games for the Dogs between 1993 and 2008.


A ball-magnet who also boasted great endurance, he won seven club best and fairest awards and was selected in the All Australian team five times.

West was runner-up in the 2000 Brownlow Medal and was third in 1998.

He is currently the senior coach at VFL club Werribee, which is aligned with North Melbourne.

West, who spoke of his pride at being inducted in front of his family, said he had done everything he could to get the best out of himself, but left the game not completely satisfied given he never won a flag.

"Fulfillment eludes those who don't achieve that ultimate success, a premiership ... there's a hole in my career," West said.

But he said he got joy now watching his own children enjoy the game.

"I'm a dual under-10 division four premiership runner, so I do have a premiership to my name," he said.


Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former Bulldog Scott West at the Hall of Fame function. Picture: AFL Media

Mann, who grew up in Merbein in north-west Victoria, played 178 games for Melbourne between 1959 and '68.

He played in three Demons premiership teams, won three club best and fairest awards and was captain for his last two seasons with the club.


Mann spoke of how the Demons went to court early in his career to get him out of national service, and while he was worried the legal bid wouldn't succeed, he needn't have been.

"I can still recall the Melbourne legal person, the army legal person and the judge congratulating themselves, as they were all Melbourne supporters," Mann said.

But he said while football had been great for him, there had also been tough times.

A later period as Demons chief executive, when he pushed for a merger between Melbourne and Hawthorn in 1996 that ultimately didn't happen, Mann said was the worst time of his life.

"I lost a lot of friends over that," Mann said.


He is best remembered for being flown by helicopter to his first training session at Simonds Stadium and for being appointed Cats skipper after just 13 VFL games.

Davies played 350 SANFL games for Sturt and South Adelaide.

He also made 20 appearances for Hawthorn in the middle of his career.

The 61-year-old stole the show with a brilliant speech that had the crowd in stitches.

Among his many funny moments was his recollection of being asked to do one hundred 100m sprints during an international rules series in Ireland.











(From top L-R) Scott West, Matthew Lloyd, Bryan Sheehan; (bottom L-R) Hassa Mann, Royce Hart and Rick Davies pose after the Australian Football Hall of Fame function. Picture: AFL Media

"One hundred 100 metre sprints? I don't go that far for my holidays!" Davies joked.

"Kevin Sheedy took me under his wing and said, 'we'll just pace it out'. But I got to about 13 and I was paced right out."


"I lived by the adage that umpires should be seen and not heard," he said. "We wanted to add to the game, not detract from it."

Sheehan officiated in six Grand Finals, none better than the classic 1989 decider between Hawthorn and Geelong.

"It was by far the toughest game of footy I've ever been involved in," he recalled. "It was a game of attrition. It was ferocious."

Lloyd needs little introduction to today's footy fans, having booted 926 goals in 270 games for Essendon between 1995 and 2009.


Now a respected member of the football media, he also won the Coleman Medal three times, was selected in the All Australian team on five occasions and played a starring role in the Bombers' 2000 premiership, which was coached by Kevin Sheedy.

He spoke about the journey that led him to become nicknamed 'The Velvet Sledgehammer'.

"You don't get tested at junior level, and it's not until you get to AFL level you really cop it," Lloyd explained.

"One day (Western Bulldogs defender) Steve Kretiuk terrorised me so badly that 'Sheeds' sent Dean Wallis to look after me.

"I only got two kicks and walked off with tears in my eyes. After the game they got me in … and said I'd be run out of the game in 12 months if I didn't learn to handle that sort of treatment.

"So I followed Sheeds' advice and started throwing my weight around."

Lloyd thanked his parents, his wife and children, but he also repeatedly praised Sheedy for helping him fulfil his potential.








AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and Dons great Michael Long at the Hall of Fame event. Picture: AFL Media