Phillips, who had joined John Cahill at Collingwood. On 16 May 1983 at Football Park, Ebert captained South Australia for the third time, in what was the states first win over Victoria since 1965. On 23 June 1984 in a game against West Torrens at Football Park Ebert broke the SANFL record for most games played in that competition, surpassing Paul Bagshaw's tally of 360 games. In 1984 Port Adelaide reached its only Grand Final with Ebert as coach. Port Adelaide's opponent in the 1984 SANFL Grand Final was Norwood who finished the minor round in fifth position. In front of 50,271 spectators Port Adelaide relinquished a 3-point lead at the final change of the 1984 SANFL Grand Final to eventually lose to Norwood by 9 points. During 1984 Ebert was presented with the Adidas Golden Boot award by Ted Whitten. At the time Ebert was only the fifth Australian recipient of the award. Ebert retired as a player at the end of 1985 for Port Adelaide, where his 392 games remains a club record. In 2020 Ebert joked about the longevity of his career, noting that "I guess when you are captain-coach you can pick yourself!". Other matches Ebert also played 29 interstate/State Of Origin matches for South Australia, and one pre-season/night series match for North Melbourne (these are considered senior by the SANFL but not the VFL/AFL). If these are included, Ebert played a total of 447 senior career games. The VFL/AFL and SANFL list Ebert's total as 446, excluding his pre-season/night series match for North Melbourne. Despite the differing viewpoints, Ebert's total was the all-time record in elite Australian rules football at the time of his retirement, and Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke wrote Ebert a letter congratulating him on his achievement. Ebert held the record until it was broken by Peter Carey in either Round 6 or Round 7 of 1988; Carey retired at the end of that season with a total of 467 senior career games. Port Adelaide non-playing coach (1986–1987) Ebert continued at the club as a non-playing coach for the 1986 SANFL season. However, Ebert began his first season as a non-playing coach without his star wingman and reigning club best and fairest, Craig Bradley, who had been acquired by Carlton. Brad Gotch also returned to Victoria to play for St Kilda. During a training session Port Adelaide's full forward Tim Evans suffered