Max Rooke (born Jarad Maxwell Rooke on 19 December 1981) is a former
Australian rules footballer, who played for the
Geelong Football Club in the
Australian Football League (AFL). A utility player, tall and weighing , Rooke's versatility allowed him to play as a forward, defender, and
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
. Rooke made his AFL debut in 2002, and was awarded the 2003 Geelong Football Club most determined and dedicated player award. He went on to become a
dual premiership player with the club, playing key roles in both the 2007 and 2009 Grand Final victories. Rooke also won two
NAB Cup
In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules foot ...
s and two
McClelland Trophies with Geelong. He has served as a development coach at the
Melbourne Football Club since November 2016.
AFL career
![Max Rooke 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Max_Rooke_2007.jpg)
Rooke was recruited from
Casterton in 2001, and made his debut in the second round of 2002. He was a regular senior player until a shin injury forced him to miss the second half of 2004, including the finals series, but recovered to play all but one game in 2005.
His lack of pace against small forwards was exposed in round 20, 2005 when 's,
Russell Robertson
Russell "Robbo" Robertson (born 24 November 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who last played for the Melbourne Football Club.
Robertson is one of the Melbourne's great goalkickers, being one of just four players in ...
kicked six goals against him. This prompted coach
Mark Thompson to move him into the midfield the following week. This move was successful, with Rooke nullifying champion midfielder
Chris Judd
Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Widely regarded as one of the bes ...
. In Geelong's close loss to the
Sydney Swans in the elimination final, Rooke amassed a remarkable fifteen tackles.
Rooke missed out on most of the 2007 season after suffering a potential season-ending 7 cm hamstring tear in round 13.
On 12 July, Geelong spent $20,000 on Rooke to receive treatment by soft-tissue expert Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfarth in Germany.
He returned to the side in the 106-point qualifying final win against the , after key defender
Matthew Egan suffered a season-ending foot injury.
In October 2010, Rooke announced his retirement from AFL football due to an acute knee injury which kept him out for most of the 2010 home and away season.
Coaching career
Rooke returned to Geelong in 2011 as a development coach for four seasons before joining as a development coach for the 2016 season. In November 2016, he joined as a development coach.
Personal life
In November 2006, Rooke made the decision to officially change his legal name to Max. Rooke's middle name at birth was Maxwell and both his grandfathers were known as Max, which led to a fondness of the name as the main reason behind the change. He also sported a new wild 1970's hairstyle and beard. Rooke was known by the new name in all official
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 ...
records from the 2007 season onwards, in the same vein of the Western Bulldog's
Brian Lake's name change from his original "Brian Harris".
Statistics
:
Max Rooke's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref>
, -
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2002
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 15 , , 1 , , 0 , , 93 , , 69 , , 162 , , 37 , , 26 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 6.2 , , 4.6 , , 10.8 , , 2.5 , , 1.7
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2003
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 18 , , 3 , , 3 , , 134 , , 103 , , 237 , , 74 , , 38 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 7.4 , , 5.7 , , 13.2 , , 4.1 , , 2.1
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2004
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 11 , , 0 , , 1 , , 51 , , 47 , , 98 , , 38 , , 18 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 4.6 , , 4.3 , , 8.9 , , 3.5 , , 1.6
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2005
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 23 , , 3 , , 1 , , 131 , , 129 , , 260 , , 88 , , 68 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 5.7 , , 5.6 , , 11.3 , , 3.8 , , 3.0
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 17 , , 8 , , 1 , , 114 , , 121 , , 235 , , 62 , , 55 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 6.7 , , 7.1 , , 13.8 , , 3.6 , , 3.2
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2007
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 8 , , 6 , , 3 , , 38 , , 45 , , 83 , , 26 , , 27 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 4.8 , , 5.6 , , 10.4 , , 3.3 , , 3.4
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 20 , , 13 , , 4 , , 113 , , 156 , , 269 , , 84 , , 70 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 5.7 , , 7.8 , , 13.5 , , 4.2 , , 3.5
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2009
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 22 , , 24 , , 15 , , 135 , , 108 , , 243 , , 97 , , 76 , , 1.1 , , 0.7 , , 6.1 , , 4.9 , , 11.0 , , 4.4 , , 3.5
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2010
, style="text-align:center;",
, 33 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1 , , 3 , , 5 , , 8 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , 5.0 , , 8.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0
, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 135
! 58
! 29
! 812
! 783
! 1595
! 508
! 380
! 0.4
! 0.2
! 6.0
! 5.8
! 11.8
! 3.8
! 2.8
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Jarad
Living people
1981 births
Geelong Football Club players
Geelong Football Club Premiership players
Casterton Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
People from Casterton, Victoria
Australia international rules football team players
Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players