Brian Carlyle Cook (born 14 November 1955) is a Scottish-born Australian businessman and former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

player and coach who is the current

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Cook played for a number of different clubs in several

Australian states and territories The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing pol ...

, including the

Box Hill Football Club Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the Victorian Football League. It has an alliance with the Hawthorn Football Club, which plays in the Australian Football League. Early Australian rules football in B ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA), the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) and the and

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

s in the

Western Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WANFL), and later captain-coached the

Ainslie Football Club Ainslie Football Club is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The club formed in 1927 and won its first premiership in 1929. Ex- St Kilda star Kevin Neale was captain-coac ...

in the

Australian Capital Territory Football League AFL Canberra is the name of the local governing body for and premier competition of Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory (and the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales). It acts as an umbrella to several competitions be ...

(ACTFL). After his retirement from coaching, Cook occupied positions with the

Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as Sp ...

and the

West Australian Football Commission The West Australian Football Commission is the governing body of Australian rules football in the state of Western Australia. Operations The WAFC was formed in 1989 to manage the sport in Western Australia. The commission is registered as a not-f ...

, before being appointed CEO of the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

in 1990. He quit this position in 1998 to take up the same role with

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

. At the conclusion of the 2021 AFL season, he took the CEO position at the

Playing and coaching career

In 1973 and 1974, Cook played in the

with Box Hill for a total of 27 senior games and 20 goals with that club. Cook played four games with the

in 1977 after moving from

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

where he played nearly 50 games in the reserves team (although none at senior VFL level). He moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

to pursue a Master of Education at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

whilst continuing his playing career with

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

and Subiaco. Playing for Rockingham in the Sunday Football League, Cook won the 1983 Bowden Medal for fairest and best player. Turning to coaching, he guided

to two WAFL reserves premierships and was later senior coach at Ainslie in the ACTFL in 1986.

Administration career

Cook moved to Canberra in 1986 and took up the post of National Sports Research Coordinator with the

. He then returned to Perth and spent two years as the general manager of the

West Australian Football Development Trust West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and a further two years as CEO of the

West Coast Eagles

Cook was appointed as CEO of the

in 1990 and during his nine years at the Eagles, the club quadrupled its membership, dramatically increased revenue and became the first non- Victorian club to win the

AFL premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and again in winning the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

premiership. Both successes were achieved against Geelong. Cook during his tenure as CEO of the Eagles also provided strong support to West Coast Eagles senior coach

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, Maltho ...

as one of the factor's for the Eagles on-field performance success in reaching finals in every year. At the end of the 1998 season, Cook quit his position as CEO of the West Coast Eagles. Cook was then replaced by

Trevor Nisbett Trevor Nisbett (born 13 June 1957) is an Australian businessman, executive and former Australian rules footballer, who played for South Bunbury in the South West Football League (SWFL). He is the current chief executive officer (CEO) of the West ...

as CEO of the West Coast Eagles.

Geelong Football Club

Cook was then appointed as CEO of the

in 1999. At the end of the 1999 season, Cook informed then-Geelong Football Club senior coach

Gary Ayres Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the Eastern F ...

that the club would not grant him a contract extension beyond the 2000 season by stating “We are in a world of pain financially, things aren’t travelling all that well … we are not really in a position to extend any contracts”. Cook then later oversaw a complete overhaul of the once-struggling club's finances in his tenure, as well as being a key supporter of former senior coach Mark Thompson along with club president

Frank Costa Frank Aloysius Costa (3 February 1938 – 2 May 2021) was an Australian businessman. Costa had been a prominent figure in the Geelong region for more than four decades after inheriting Costa Group, the family's produce business, in the late 1 ...

. Cook also oversaw Geelong's three

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

premiership victories in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Cook also oversaw an era for the Geelong Football Club that experienced finals football in 16 of their last 18 seasons as well as 13 top four finishes between 2004 to 2021, including the three premierships during that time. That on-field success has been mirrored by performance off the field, with Cook leading a four-stage redevelopment of

GMHBA Stadium Kardinia Park (also known as GMHBA Stadium due to naming rights) is a sporting and entertainment venue located within Kardinia Park, South Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium, which is owned and operated by the Kardinia P ...

also known as Kardinia Park, while also ballooning the Cats’ turnover from $16 to $60 million during his tenure. Cook has been suggested as a potential future Australian Football League CEO and was also suggested as a possible CEO for the new expansion teams, and . At the conclusion of the

2021 AFL season The 2021 AFL season was the 125th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featu ...

, Cook left his position as CEO of the Geelong Football Club after 23 years, and was replaced by

Steve Hocking Steven Hocking (born 18 January 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Hocking became CEO of Geelong after the 2021 season. He is the elder brother of fo ...

Carlton Football Club

Cook was then appointed CEO at the

on 17 September 2021, replacing

Cain Liddle Cain Liddle (born 11 June 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL) in 1994. He was recruited from the Western Jets in the TAC Cup with the 14th selection in the 1993 AFL Draft, ...

after Liddle was sacked from the CEO position, due to an extensive review of the club's football operations after its disappointing 2021 season with poor on-field results performance.

References

External links

*
Biography at Geelong Football Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Brian 1955 births Ainslie Football Club coaches Ainslie Football Club players Australian businesspeople Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Box Hill Football Club players East Perth Football Club players Geelong Football Club administrators Living people Melbourne Football Club players Scottish emigrants to Australia Subiaco Football Club players University of Western Australia alumni West Australian Football League administrators West Coast Eagles administrators People from Peebles