When North Melbourne centre half back Peter Steward attempted to evade a tackle from Hawthorn’s Kevin Coverdale in the second last qualifying match of the 1963 season, the wrenching noise coupled with severe pain in his knee caused him to fear the worst. His fears were later confirmed, but little did he know that the aftermath of his bad luck would set in motion the forerunner of the technique used today in the treatment of football’s  most feared injury.The affected knee had already been under the surgeon’s knife, having undergone a cartilage removal two years previously.“You’ll never play football again,” was the blunt assessment of a Collins Street specialist.It was the skill and resourcefulness of club doctor John Grant that saved Steward’s playing career. An orthopedic surgeon, who diagnosed the injury as a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Grant had previously performed ACL surgery in 1958 without success, but was enthused by new methods he’d read about, and was keen to try them on Steward, who readily agreed to the radical treatment. Operated on in mid 1964, Steward made a surprise reappearance with the Kangaroos late that year, breaking down again. It wasn’t until round one of the 1966 season that he reappeared in the blue and white against Footscray. Although that game ended in further disappointment for the defender when a pulled hamstring saw him on the sidelines for a further three weeks, it heralded the comeback of one of North’s greatest ever players, All Australian in 1969, a captain of the club, and deservedly rewarded in 2003 with selection in the North Melbourne “Team of the Century.”He later transferred to West Perth, where he spent five years, played in two premierships, coached the club, and represented Western Australia in interstate football. But the young Peter Steward initially was less than keen on playing at Arden Street.A Geelong supporter, he was content to play in the Northern Districts League with Kerang before his form as a key forward saw him signed on a form four by North Melbourne. He continued with the country side, and drew the attention of the Cats, who through General Manager Leo O’Brien, invited him to a training run with the club, but didn’t hear any more. In the meantime, the Kangaroos got wind that Steward was under the radar of the opposition, so despatched a recruiting man to Kerang with a two hundred pound cheque and a free lunch at the local pub as a sweetener. A fortuitous transfer in his bank employment to the North Melbourne branch did the trick, and Peter lined up at centre half forward against South Melbourne’s Bob Kingston in the 1962 season. In the middle of that year North played a country side during a State game bye, and Steward was tried at centre half back. “I went alright,” he said. “To tell the truth I wasn’t kicking many goals as a forward, so it was a good move.”The key defensive position was made to order for the dashing Steward, his long, penetrating  kicking, sure marking, and clearing dashes quickly stamping him as one of the foremost backmen in the game. Sometimes alternating at full back, he played on some of the alltime great players including Jezaulenko, McKenna, Hudson, Blethyn, Hart, and Baldock.After playing a hundred and twenty six games with North, Steward dropped a bombshell in 1971 when he applied for a clearance to West Perth.“I’d turned twenty eight, and thought it was time to think about my family and the future,” he recalled. “I was looking at a business in Coburg and approached the club at the end of the 1970 season about a loan. The response was less than positive.  A colleague who had press contacts then arranged for a piece to be included in Jack Dunn’s “Around The Packs” column in the “Melbourne Sun” implying that I had been the target of several clubs. It was a furphy, but resulted in contacts from Central Districts coach Denis Jones and West Perth.”“The West Australian offer was better than I was receiving at North, so I signed with them.”However, Steward almost returned to Victoria six weeks into the 1971 season.“The price on my head was ridiculous, West couldn’t pay it, and North wouldn’t clear me. I finally told West Perth I was heading home rather than stand out of football.”Within  a week the clubs reached an agreement, and Peter lined up for the Cardinals in round seven of 1971. After just four games in WA he was selected as full back for the State side in Adelaide in July before playing at centre half back against his home State at Subiaco later that month.He was a key member of West Perth’s 1971 premiership combination and in 1972 was captain coach of the club. “It was a difficult time,” he said. “I was playing alright, but the hours I was putting into my liquor store in Bayswater didn’t allow me to concentrate on the coaching as much as I should have. I was happy to relinquish the post the following season.” Ironically, the man who had attempted to get Steward to Adelaide two years previously, Denis Jones, got the coaching job at West Perth in 1973. Peter was one of Western Australia’s best in the 1972 Australian Carnival, and was once again in the State side against Victoria at Waverley in 1973, when accompanied on the half back line by fellow Victorian, Darryl Griffiths. Another flag in 1975 under Graeme Campbell, a memorable last to first premiership, was a fitting swansong for Peter Steward, and he retired at the end of that year at the age of thirty three, after adding eighty eight games to his 126 with North Melbourne , bringing his tally of league appearances to two hundred and fourteen.   It wasn’t quite the end of football for Steward, however.“A mate of mine at Dalwallinu asked myself and Barry McAuliffe to pull on a guernsey for them. I wasn’t over enthused, but the money was good, and when Barry decided to play, I joined him.”Peter has enjoyed a varied business life since arriving in Western Australia, with a liquor store, café, child care centre, and a rural business. He is now retired, spending time at Nedlands Golf Club as both player and willing worker around the greens. He keeps his fitness up, and ran a marathon in less than three hours at the age of forty seven. Married to Fiona, he has two girls and enjoys the opportunity to travel that retirement brings.Hardest player to beat among many champions he played on was Royce Hart, “he went for everything, with Jezza made the Victorian side in their first season,” while Sam Newman, Jezaulenko, Ian Stewart, and John Nicholls were the best he played with. Peter has many memories of the camaraderie and friendships that existed in the sixties and seventies. “There would always be a keg after the game, supplied by the home side, and we’d mix with everyone and get to know the opposition players. Some of those friendships made then continue today. Then there was the three quarter time huddle in the mud of the grounds we played on those days, the chill taken off with a green ginger wine or sweet sherry.”“On one such wet and miserable day against Essendon, Barry Capuano had the ball and I was in hot pursuit. He fell to the mud and I couldn’t help myself, I had to grab a handful of the mud and slap it all over his face. The ump gave him a kick, and I later apologised for the moment of madness.”A star in two States, Peter Steward’s service to North Melbourne has been rewarded with life membership, and he is one of the club’s favourite sons. At West Perth he is also held in high esteem as a member of two premiership teams, coach,  and is well remembered as a great centre half back.