Former St Kilda star Stephen Milne got the party started at Rushworth on Saturday by kicking the opening goal of the game against Merrigum in front of several members of the 2004 Tigers premiership team.
Former AFL stars Stephen Milne and Daniel Harris made an immediate impact in their one-off appearance for Rushworth in Saturday’s Kyabram District League senior football fixture against Merrigum at Ironbark Stadium.
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While Harris was returning to his home town, it was foreign territory for Milne, but both looked right at home within minutes of the first bounce.
Milne kicked the first goal of the game, a snap over his left shoulder after playing on from a mark just 20 metres in front of goal. Harris then kicked the second goal, having taken a typically strong mark and converted from a similar location.
The pair finished with seven goals (Milne kicked five) between them in the 65-point win, which came after Merrigum had beaten the Tigers by 26 points in the opening round of the season way back in April.
Watching on were several members of the club’s 2004 premiership team, many a similar age to Milne and Harris.
The familiar numbers four (Harris’ North Melbourne number) and 44 (which Milne wore for all of his 275 games with St Kilda) were on the backs of the former AFL stars, Milne continuing his journeyman ways since retiring from the AFL and Harris playing with his nephew Liam Francis in the game.
Forty two-year-old Harris and 44-year-old Milne finished their AFL careers at similar times, but both have kept their hand in using different measures.
This year Harris has played three games of AFL Masters in the Metropolitan Superrules Football League for Greenvale Over 35s.
Milne kicked five goals for the game and was a focal point in attack as the Tigers turned around a 26-point opening round loss to Merrigum by winning by 10 goals.
That is on the back of a 2023 season where he played with Diamond Valley in the same competition - the same team that Brendan Fevola and Kyabram’s Kayne Pettifer are now playing with regularly.
When he finished AFL Harris played several seasons in the Essendon District Football league, but did return for four games with Rushworth in 2021 (when he kicked 11 goals).
Daniel Harris (right) played with his nephew Liam Francis in the victory, the former North Melbourne star kicking two goals and Francis among the best players on the ground.
Harris’ last game of senior AFL football was for the Gold Coast Suns in Round 20, 2011 - his 160th game. The Suns picked him up as the number one pick in the 2010 Rookie Draft after he was delisted by North Melbourne.
He debuted with the Kangaroos in round one 2001 after being picked at number 14 in the 2000 draft (the same draft as Kyabram’s Brett Deledio went number one). He found his groove in 2007 when he had 510 disposals in 25 games and the Kangaroos made the preliminary final.
Celebrating one of his two goals was former North Melbourne star Harris, who played senior football with Rushworth in the late 1990s before being drafted to the Kangaroos.
Milne’s last season of AFL was 2013, when he kicked 28 goals from 17 games and finished with career statistics of 574 goals in his career (finishing just 25 games shy of AFL life membership - 300 games).
He topped the 50 goal mark in six of his 13 seasons, his 61 goal 2005 season featuring an 11 goal game against Brisbane Lions.
Milne was famously involved in the pivotal moment of the 2010 AFL when the Saints were trailing by one point with 90 seconds remaining and a long shot on goal by Lenny Hayes bounced at right angles on two occasions when Milne had a clear path to goal ahead of him.
Stephen Milne kicked 574 goals in 275 games for St Kilda and added another five to his post-AFL career record when playing for Rushworth on Saturday.
The first year out of the AFL Milne kicked 101 goals for Bendigo Football League club Strathfieldsaye and started a run of what would be a decade of one off appearances - playing a game with Tasmanian North West Football League team Penguin.
He backed that up with another six clubs the following year before settling at Victorian Amateur Football Association club Beaumaris for several seasons.
Last year he kicked two goals with Campbelltown (another Tasmanian club), five in one game for Yarrangon Panthers (in Gippsland) and four with Kilcunda Bass Veterans in the Outer East league.
