Career
Bryant commenced his junior football with VFA club Box Hill, playing in the club"s 4ths (Under 17s) team in 1960, thereafter progressing quickly through the club"s junior ranks. Bryant quickly established himself as one of the premier players in the VFA second division, initially as a half-forward but later as a centreman with outstanding foot skills and stamina. At the end of the 1968 season Bryant was one of the few non-VFL players selected in the second touring party for Australian Football World Tour organised by Harry Beitzel, more commonly known as "The Galahs".
Following the 1968 season, he was signed by the North Melbourne Football Club in a highly controversial transfer.
A transfer fee of $2,000 was set for Bryant"s clearance under a rule which the VFA had introduced in 1967, but VFL clubs were forbidden from paying any sort of transfer fee under the VFL"s player payment rules – which had been the source of open dispute between the competitions over the previous two years. The VFA formally approved Bryant"s clearance, and it initially appeared that it had done so without the transfer fee being paid.
But VFA secretary Fred Hill then reported to the press that North Melbourne had indeed secretly paid the transfer fee in defiance of the VFL"s rules. North Melbourne was required to face the VFL arbitrators over the affair, but charges against the club were dropped when Hill did not provide any written corroborating evidence.
So whether or not the illegal transfer fee was actually paid was never proven.
Bryant played between 1969 and 1971 for North Melbourne mainly as a wingman for a total of 45 games and 16 goals. He transferred back to Box Hill prior to the commencement of the 1972 season, supposedly due to a disagreement with North Melbourne"s coach Brian Dixon. Bryant played a further five seasons with Box Hill from 1972 to 1976 and during that period was regarded as one of the very best players in the VFA. He was captain of Box Hill from 1974 to 1976 and was also coach in 1975.
Bryant"s final tally for Box Hill was 147 senior games and 195 goals.
Shortly before his retirement in 1976 he was widely acknowledged for passing the rare milestone of 150 senior games of VFA football. The discrepancy is due to the practice at the time of including matches played in the end-of-season VFA "Lightning Premiership" in a player"s overall games tally, which are no longer recognised as official VFA matches.
In 2000 he was named as centreman of Box Hill"s official "Greatest Ever Team".
