North Melbourne and St Kilda stars come to town with holy grail in hand

By Patrick Morrow

Sep 15, 2022

**The cup comes to Shepparton:** Brent Harvey and Brendan Goddard holding the “holy grail” at Princess Park. Photo by Zac Standish

The 2022 AFL Toyota Premiership Cup came to Shepparton on Wednesday with North Melbourne legend Brent Harvey and former St Kilda and Essendon player Brendan Goddard, who presented the cup to footy fans at Princess Park, with photographers Zac Standish and Chris Gurney taking happy snaps.

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The AFL’s game record holder, “Boomer” Harvey said it was always great making the trip to Shepparton.

“Little bit of a cruise up the freeway for me being from Melbourne, but showing off the premiership cup to the locals here. It’s always good to be involved in the Premiership Cup events,” the North legend said.

It was part of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Cup tour, which has seen the “holy grail” traveling around Australia, starting in Sydney on August 30 with the tour finishing up in the Melbourne suburb of Keysborough on September 18.

Harvey admired the ground with great interest while watching kids holding the cup he lifted in 1999 as a teenager and said he loved coming back to country football grounds.

“I love coming to look at local football grounds, and this is a beautiful football ground,” Harvey said.

Pure joy: Blake Miller, Logan Anstice and James Sibio holding the Premiership Cup. Photo by Zac Standish

He said it was an excellent way to show off the Premiership Cup to country towns.

He said it was good to see smiles on kids’ faces when they picked it up because they knew the Premiership Cup would be lifted proper in a couple of weeks time.

“They’re going to watch it in two weeks and watch the AFL Grand Final,” Harvey said.

“They’re going to see a captain and a coach pick it up, and they’re going to say I picked that up. I picked that up. So just little things like... It’s fantastic.”

Harvey said it was imperative to have these showcase events come to regional areas of Australia.

“Yeah, it’s sort of getting out to the regional area, especially, you know, after COVID-19, and it is great for everyone to show the Premiership Cup in the country,” he said.

“But just to bring the cup around to different regions that don’t normally get to see it is great for the AFL.”

Cup joy: Blake Miller, Logan Anstice and James Sibio with Brent Harvey and Brendan Goddard. Photo by Zac Standish

It was Harvey’s second time coming to Princess Park, with his son playing against Murray Bushrangers a while back, and he said he enjoyed his time in Shepparton.

“I remember coming through the main street and the other footy ground over the road. So I went to that one,” he said.

“But other than that I haven’t been up here a great deal. So it’s always nice getting in the car and driving up.”