Career: 1989-2004
Games: 292
Goals: 127
Brownlow Medal: 62 career votes
Guernsey numbers: 10 (1991-2004), 46 (1990), 58 (1989)
Height: 178cm
Weight: 81kg
DOB: 2 July 1971 (Debut: 18y 42d, last game: 33y 57d)
A tough, gritty on-baller from Shepparton who has always been willing to put his hand up for the hardest jobs. Typically he asked to play on Paul Kelly in the 1996 Grand Final after the Sydney star had given him a hiding earlier in the year. In 1996 he was occasionally given a free rein away from the demands of a close checking role. Stevens made his name as a dour tagger but other teams became aware of his importance and directed stopping tactics at him.
By the mid 1990s he was a regular state player. A knee injury late in 1995 when he collapsed with McKernan during a training drill kept him out of the finals. At the start of 1996 he seemed determined to make up for lost time with a feverish possession rate in the early games. In many ways he was underrated because of the bevy of stars at North but he had that rare ability to consistenly get the hard ball and was generally a long kick in the North style. Gary O'Donnell rated him "the lifeblood of the side" for his great capacity to bore into packs and shrug tackles. Rodney Eade said he went from a tagger to a good player to real playmaker. "He was originally a dumb runner like a dog chasing a bus," said Eade. A player regarded as one of the Roos' most important players, Stevens had an horrific injury in 2000 when he was severely cut across the face and neck by a shard of falling glass. Returned as courageous as ever.
He played in the Roos' 1996 and 1999 premiership sides and was an All-Australian in 1998. He suffered a knee injury in 2001, but was then appointed captain for 2002. Players with less character would have suffered from the spotlight of incidents surrounding him, but Stevens thrived and had a fine season until tearing a chest muscle three weeks from the finals. He finished third in the club best and fairest in 2002, proof yet again of his remarkable commitment. Stevens ran fourth in the best and fairest in 2003, and then stood down as captain. He had won the best and fairests in 1997 and 1999.
Profile from 'The Encyclopaedia of Footballers'
VFL/AFL: 10056th player to appear
North Melbourne: 805th player to appear
Quotes on Stevens:
"He's so determined that you have to slow him down sometimes. Anthony Stevens is a quality footballer and a quality person." - Denis Pagan - 12th May, 1996.
"I think he was fairly low, but he's the sort of bloke who never lets that stuff show. He's very bubbly, always got a smile on his face, although shy and reserved to the people who don't really know him. He's still maintained that pretty much, but I know privately he was pretty low, firstly about missing such a long period of time and secondly how lucky he was in terms of the seriousness of the injury." - Former Kangaroo Football Manager Geoff Walsh on Stevens in the wake of the injury when a shard of glass almost killed him.
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