Stephen and Bradley Hill will line up alongside each other this Friday night for the first time in eight years when the Indigenous All Stars take on the West Coast Eagles at Medibank Stadium.
The West Australian speedsters are taking part in the weeklong 2015 AFL Indigenous Camp. They have played against each other on a number of occasions when Stephen’s Fremantle has played Bradley’s Hawthorn in recent seasons, including the 2013 AFL Grand Final.
It’s perhaps fitting that one is a left-footer and the other right because, despite being brothers, the two are almost polar opposites.
Fremantle’s Stephen is a softly spoken, humble, somewhat shy young man.
His younger brother Bradley, who is now a two-time premiership player at Hawthorn, could be summarised as cheeky.
The pair spoke together after Monday morning’s training session at Medibank Stadium with their Indigenous teammates.
Stephen said all the right things when asked what it would be like to play with his young brother.
“I’m looking forward to it, and especially being home in Perth, it should be really exciting,” he said.
Little ‘Hilly’ had a bit more to say, including some tactical suggestions for coach Andy Lovell.
“Chuck both the Hills on the wing either side, left footer, right footer,” he said
The Hills haven’t been on the same team since Stephen was 16 and Bradley 13.
Neither remembers too much, other than mismatched Brad being a late call-up for the game
“I was little compared to everyone else, I was pretty much standing around, I couldn’t get the footy,” Bradley said.
He did reserve some praise for his older brother.
“Stephen was the best player in his team,” Bradley added.
But not too much, prompting laughs from the journalists when they asked him if Stephen was his hero growing up.
“He wasn’t my hero,” Bradley said quickly, as if to suggest ‘why would you think my brother would be my hero?’.
While Stephen was excited to be playing with his brother from another club, he said the entire Indigenous Camp was so far a tremendous experience.
“Seeing some of the older boys like ‘Shauny’ (Burgoyne) and (Adam) ‘Goodesy’, just the way they lead, you can see they are exceptional players,” he said.
“It’s good to be able to train alongside them.”
Stephen was also mindful of the importance to his Indigenous people.
“We want to make or people proud, and playing alongside other Indigenous players, there’s some exciting talent in the team,” he said.
“It’s going to be a great game and I’m looking forward to playing alongside them.”
Hill brothers set for battle
