Brent Staker

Brent Staker and his classmates made a time capsule while he was attending Burke Ward Public School in Broken Hill. He could not have foreseen that, by 2020 when the time capsule was opened, he would not only be an AFL star, but also coached women’s football and become a radio sports commentator.

Staker’s kick-off in A-Grade football was the Grand Final for West Broken Hill as an under-16. He then played for the ACT Rams under-18s, before his AFL debut with the West Coast Football Club, kicking 2 goals against Hawthorn. After that, Staker played every West Coast game until 2006. In 2008 he was nominated as an AFL Rising star.

In 2010 he was traded to the Brisbane Lions, with whom he played 50 games until a series of knee injuries resulted in his retirement from AFL in 2015. He signed with Brisbane’s Western Magpies for the 2016 season.

At the end of the 2016 season, Brent Staker began coaching the Brisbane Lions AFL Women’s Team.

In fact, the first ‘ladies’ football’ match was played in Broken Hill during WWI: a fundraising event for the Red Cross. During WWII, women’s football teams the Spitfires and the Bombers again marched onto the field, raising a significant sum of money for the war effort.

Now Brent Staker is a 160-games football veteran for the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Lions, and also a high profile football commentator. He is still a sought-after player in Queensland, most recently playing with the Kangaroos.

Audio Transcript Available