Australian Football

From the West Broken Hill Football Club, Brett Cook joined Norwood in 1991 where he produced some good football in the under 19s, prompting Fitzroy to select him at that year’s National Draft. He did not cross to Victoria immediately, however, preferring to hone his skills with the Redlegs, for whom he played mostly reserves football in 1992-3, plus a solitary senior appearance.

The 1994 season saw Cook taking his bows in the big time with Fitzroy. After playing just three matches that year he was installed as the Lions’ number one ruckman in 1995 and did well. However, following the recruitment of Matthew Primus he dropped down the pecking order and managed just four senior games in 1996, compared to 18 the previous year. After the demise of Fitzroy, Cook moved to St Kilda in 1997, where he was initially used as a back up ruckman to Peter Everitt and Lazar Vidovic. Late in the season, however, both these players were sidelined with injuries, opening the door to Cook to play in both the preliminary final defeat of North Melbourne and the grand final loss to Adelaide.

In 1998 he found himself on the outer, before finishing the season strongly with appearances in seven of the team’s last eight matches, including a qualifying final and semi final. That was as good as it would get for Cook, however, and after playing just once in 1999 he was de-listed having made 18 appearances for the Saints and scored five goals to add to the 25 games and seven goals registered with the Lions.

Author - John Devaney