THE LIFE AND FOOTBALL TIMES OF OUTGOING GEELONG CATS CEO BRIAN COOK
1955: Born in Scotland the youngest of two sons.
1959: Cook’s father (a policeman) and mother (a nurse) move their family to Australia and settle in South Melbourne.
1960s: Cook and his brother return to Scotland to live with family for a couple of years after their mother’s death but eventually return to Australia.
1977: Cook plays four games for Melbourne after starting his career in the VFA with Box Hill.
1980s: Cook, now living in Western Australia, plays a modest number of WAFL games at East Perth and Subiaco before moving into coaching.
1986: Coaches Ainslie in the ACT and works for the Australian Sports Commission.
1990: After a few years in football administration roles in WA, Cook is appointed chief executive of the West Coast Eagles. Mick Malthouse joins the club as coach.
1991: West Coast makes its first grand final, but loses to Hawthorn.
1992: The Eagles defeat Geelong to claim their maiden AFL premiership.
1994: West Coast defeats Geelong to win its second AFL premiership.
1998: Frank Costa lures Brian Cook to Geelong. “We believed the only way forward was to get the best administrator around. All the research came up with Brian Cook,” Costa later explained.
1999: A horror year for Geelong. After finishing 11th on the ladder, coach Gary Ayres departs for Adelaide and skipper Leigh Colbert defects to North Melbourne.
2000: Cook is a frontrunner for the job of AFL football operations boss, but the job goes to Andrew Demetriou. Mark Thompson takes Geelong into the finals in his first year as senior coach.
2002: Cook and Costa reveal a grand plan for a $25m redevelopment of the club’s home ground Baytec Stadium, including a proposed ticket levy to help fund it. “We have solid proof that if we don’t play the majority of our (home) games at Baytec, then we won’t survive in the AFL,” Cook said. “None of us wants to be the people responsible for the Geelong Football Club leaving Geelong.” The team finishes ninth.
2003: Cook presents for the job as AFL chief executive after the resignation of Wayne Jackson, but Andrew Demetriou is appointed. The Kardinia Park Stadium rebuild begins in October. Cats finish 12th.
2004: Cats improve dramatically, rising to fourth on the ladder and pushing Brisbane all the way in the preliminary final. 2005: Stage one rebuild of the stadium (now known as Skilled Stadium) is complete. But heartbreak as the Cats lose a semi-final to Sydney by just three points and finish fifth.
2006: The Cats start the season with high expectations, but fail to deliver and miss the finals, finishing 10th.
Cook oversees a searching review of the football department that causes tensions to rise. But he resists calls to sack Thompson as coach, instead improving the support around him and recommending unheralded defender Tom
Harley as captain.
2007: It all comes good. Geelong storms to its first premiership in 44 years (above) with a 119-point win over Port Adelaide. There are scenes of unbridled jubilation on the streets of Geelong.
Cook is awarded AFL life membership.
2008: Geelong dominates the home-and-away season, but stumbles in the grand final, losing to Hawthorn. Cook is named Australian Sports Executive of the Year and inducted as a life member of Geelong Football Club.
2009: Redemption. The Cats beat St Kilda by 12 points in a pulsating grand final. Cook is considered a leading contender for chief executive of the AFL’s new Gold Coast team before it enters the competition in 2011.
2010: Another year of turmoil. After losing a preliminary final to Collingwood, Geelong loses three key figures. Frank Costa’s retirement as president is planned and seamless, but the loss of star player Gary Ablett to
the fledgling Gold Coast Suns and surprise departure of coach Mark Thompson hurt. Cook leads the search for Thompson’s replacement. More than 100 potential candidates are considered by Cook and footy managers Neil Balme and Steve Hocking. They surprise many by opting for Chris Scott over favourite sons Ken Hinkley and Brenton Sanderson.
2011: Geelong shocks the footy world by claiming its third premiership in five years (right) with a win over Collingwood.
2012: Joel Selwood replaces Cameron Ling as Geelong captain. North Melbourne approaches
Cook to become its chief executive. Costa talks him out of it. Cook later admits it’s the closest he ever came to leaving Geelong. Team finishes seventh.
2014: Cook is touted as a possible successor to Demetriou as AFL chief executive. The job goes in-house to Gillon McLachlan. The Cats finish third, but exit the finals in straight sets.
2015: The Cats miss the finals for the first time since 2016. The teams finished 10th, but excitement surrounds the possible recruitment of Adelaide star Patrick Dangerfield.
2016: Dangerfield wins the Brownlow Medal in his first year at the club and the Cats return to the top four, but miss out on a grand final berth.
2017: Cook is appointed chairman of the Barwon Health board. The Cats finish third.
2018: Ablett returns to play for Geelong, but the Cats are eliminated in week one of the finals.
2019: Geelong makes the preliminary final, but is knocked out of the flag race by eventual premier Richmond.
2020: The Cats go one better than 2019, making the grand final, but lose the decider to Richmond. The AFL and all its clubs struggle to cope with the logistic and financial implications of the Covid pandemic.
2021: Cook’s final year as Cats chief executive. The club again makes the top four – the 17th time a team has done that under his watch in 32 seasons as a club chief. Geelong exits the finals with an 83-point preliminary final loss to Melbourne.