 He is listed in the Easts playing squad from 1909 through till 1913, although Leslie Cody kept him out of the half-back spot in East's first premiership winning side in 1911.By 1912 the champion representative half-back Pony Halloway had joined the Tricolours and Bruce saw little first grade football in 1912 and none in 1913.Bruce was a thirty-two-year-old married tram conductor with two adopted children living in Yurong St, near Hyde Park, Sydney when he enlisted in the AIF in March 1916.