He was Melbourne's last selection in that year's draft, taken as the club's sixth pick, and 64th overall, behind team-mates Brad Green, Paul Wheatley and Matthew Whelan.

[3] Given the number 32 guernsey, he quickly adapted to AFL football, receiving a Rising Star nomination in his debut season, and finishing runner-up to David Neitz in the club's best-and-fairest in 2002.

Bruce developed his game as a midfielder, but from 2005 he has been used in attack, across half-back and also as a tagger – the latter role seen notably through his tagging of high-profile players such as James Hird, Chris Judd, Adam Goodes and Nathan Buckley.

[5][7] He enjoyed a solid run of form in 2004, which he managed 34 goals for the year, including a seven-goal haul against Carlton in round six.

New Demons coach Dean Bailey used Bruce chiefly in defence in the early stages of the season, where he picked up Brad Johnson and Cameron Mooney among others.

Bailey handed Bruce a more attacking role during the middle of the season, generally playing either off half-back as a rebounding defender, or on the wing.

[13] Following the retirement of David Neitz in 2008, Bruce was named co-captain of the team alongside James McDonald for the remainder of the season.

[14] A few hours after he had been drafted by the Hawks, Bruce had revealed on SEN, a Melbourne-based sports-talkback radio station, that he had already been handed the number 17 guernsey, made famous by Hawthorn legend, Michael Tuck.

[1] On 22 August 2017, it was announced that Bruce would leave Hawthorn at the end of the 2017 season to become a senior assistant coach at Carlton.