Gary Hardeman

DOB: 26 February, 1950
Debut: Round 3, 1967 against St. Kilda at Moorabbin
Last Game: Round 22, 1981 against Hawthorn at Princes Park

Games: 219
Goals: 113
Career Statistics (external link)

Wins	Draws	Losses	Winning %
73	1	145	33.33

From: Moorabbin Technical School

Number: 33 1967-1977, 11 1981

Honours
Team of the Century member - Centre-half back
150 Heroes selection
Life Member
Victorian state player - 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976
All Australian - 1972

Recruited from high school where he had been an All-Australian schoolboy player Hardeman played in the 1964 fourths premiership before making his senior debut three years later. He played nine games in his first season, and 17 in 1968, by 1970 he had moved into the backline, played every game for the year and become one of the Demons best defenders. That year he finished third in the Best and Fairest.

In 1972 he toured to Europe as part of an Australian "All Star" team who played a matches against Carlton across Europe.

One of the best centre-half backs in the competition, Hardeman was used in a variety of positions around the ground to compensate for the sides other deficiencies. At various times he played as a full-forward, centre-half forward and ruck rover.

He finished second in the 1974 Brownlow Medal count, and third in the Best and Fairest that year.

In 1976 he attempted to cross to Sturt in the SANFL, but with two years left on his contract the Demons refused to clear him. Crack South Australian forward Michael Graham was on the table as a potential swap, but Hardeman decided to stay with the Demons.

He eventually made it to Sturt in '78 after his contract expired and he spent three years in the SANFL. His first year was wrecked with injuries and he only played four games. Eventually he racked up a total of 44 games for Sturt and played for South Australia in 1980.

When Ron Barassi was signed as coach in 1981 Hardeman returned from Adelaide and played one last year with the Demons. His form wasn't good enough to earn regular selection and after spending much of the season bouncing between the seniors and reserves Hardeman retired at the end of that year having played the third most career VFL games in history without appearing in a final.

In 1998 he returned to the club as an interchange steward and was later selected as the centre-half back in the Melbourne team of the century.

Elected as a board member in 1999, he was re-elected for 2002 as part of Gabriel Szondy's "Team Vision" ticket with 6,834 votes. He remained a director through 2004.