Blast from the Past
Lions.com.au catches up with former Fitzroy ruckman Brett Cook
What are you doing with yourself these days?
I’ve been working with Olympus Imaging Australia for the past four years. They’re a medical imaging company - but I deal predominantly with their everyday products like cameras and voice recorders.
Because there’s no office located in Melbourne, I get to work from home. There are three of us in total who run around looking after the accounts for Victoria and Tasmania.
What are your fondest memories from your playing days with Fitzroy?
Probably just that I was able to play with a really good bunch of fellas.
There wasn’t much else going for the Club during my time, and I unfortunately don’t have too many memories of team success.
But the people are the Club were fantastic. It was a bit like a local football club, which in some ways might have been to our detriment in the end.
Money was obviously tight back in those times, and we lost a lot of good players because they were offered bigger contracts to play elsewhere.
Do you still catch up with any of your former team-mates?
Yeah, I still see Trent Cummings and Nick Mitchell a fair bit. Hoggy (Jeff Hogg) and myself used to catch up fairly regularly as well, but once you start having kids, a lot of that stuff goes by the wayside.
I’ve also had a fair bit to do with Jamie Elliott, Rowan Warfe and Jeff Bruce over the years.
You attended the Club’s inaugural Hall of Fame induction last Saturday night with some of your former team-mates. Did you enjoy the night?
Yes, very much so.
There were plenty of familiar faces in the room - guys like Kevin Elms, who was an old Fitzroy trainer, and Ross Thornton who was coaching us back then. It was great to catch up with them.
I sat on a table with a bunch of my old team-mates - some of who I hadn’t seen for a few years. We certainly made up for lost time, although I pulled up a little worse for wear on Sunday morning.
It’s nice to know that not much has changed over the years. Without giving any names away, it was quite funny to see the same two guys still arguing over women, and one bloke get booted out of the casino.
Another guy disappeared on us during the night - just like he used to do back in his playing days.
It was a great night.
Other than Paul Roos and Alastair Lynch who were among the inaugural inductees, which of your former Fitzroy team-mates do you think are most likely to be included in the Brisbane Lions’ Hall of Fame in the future?
Probably Martin Pike and Chris Johnson.
Pikey played in four flags - even though one was with North Melbourne - and also won Fitzroy’s Best and Fairest in our last year.
No doubt the year he gets inducted will be a dangerous, but great night.
Then obviously there’s Chrissy Johnson who was an absolute champion. He’ll get in there pretty soon I’d think.
As a former ruckman, how have you seen that particular role change over the years?
If I was still playing today, I’d probably be a wingman - although I probably wouldn’t be getting a game anyway - because the players these days are all monsters!
That’s the biggest change I’ve noticed. Today’s players are taller and more athletic than ever - blokes my size are now playing in the midfield.
I still do a little bit of work with Coburg in the VFL, and have been working pretty closely with Richmond ruckmen Angus Graham and Andrew Browne. Angus Graham, in particular, is huge. He’s probably a small ruckman by AFL standards, but still towers over me.
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