Troy Cook (born 12 August 1976) is an Australian rules footballer. Cook played for the

Perth Football Club The Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club based in Lathlain, Western Australia, currently playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Representing the south-east area of the Perth metropo ...

in the

West Australian 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 ...

as well as the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...

in the Australian Football League.

Early career

Cook grew up in Carnarvon where he played for the Warriors FC and he spent his last year of school and underage football with St Patricks in

Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

. In 1993 he was a member of the WA Under 18 team playing alongside future team-mates

Shaun McManus Shaun John McManus (born 9 February 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer. He is one of the most popular players to ever represent the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and is often seen as an icon or f ...

and Peter Bell. Cook played 40 games for

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

in the

between 1994 & 1996 and was runner-up in the

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant and ...

in 1996.

Sydney Swans

At the 1996 AFL Draft Cook was chosen at pick 26 by the

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

. Cook spent the next 3 years developing his skills under coach

Rodney Eade Rodney Eade (born 4 April 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach in the Australian Football League. He is a former coach of the Sydney Swans, the Western Bulldogs and the Gold Coast Football Club. He has, to date, coached 37 ...

. During his time at Sydney he perfected one of his greatest assets, his tackling. He also worked with assistant coach

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election as a member of The Nationals. Drum served as the Assistant Mi ...

who he would later meet again at

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

Fremantle Dockers

On his return to WA in 2000 Cook immediately showed he was determined to be a part of the Fremantle line-up with a strong pre-season and impressive early form. By the end of the season he had played all 22 games, lead the club in disposals and was named the club champion.

2003 onwards

Cook played all 88 regular season games (a club record for consecutive games at the time) in his first four seasons at Fremantle, but broke his ankle in the final round of 2003, forcing him to miss Fremantle's first ever finals match. Recovering from the broken ankle, he started the 2004 season in the WAFL before eventually playing 18 games. He missed two games late in the season with a hamstring strain and was used mainly in defence. As hard at the ball as ever and, despite his slow start to the season, was fifth on Fremantle's tackles list. On 26 August 2007 Cook announced that 2007 will be his final season of AFL football. He played his 150th and final match in Round 22, 2007, against Port Adelaide, earning him life membership of the Fremantle Dockers. He played for the Perth Football Club in the WAFL, and retired in the middle of the 2010 season, after playing a total of 301 games for Sydney, Fremantle and Perth. He also played two games for Western Australia.

Director of Football at Perth Football Club

On December 14, 2016 it was announced that Troy Cook had been appointed the Director of Football at the

following a poor on and off field record in recent seasons.

References

External links

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Troy Cook's WAFL statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Troy 1976 births Fremantle Football Club players Doig Medal winners Living people Sydney Swans players Perth Football Club players Indigenous Australians from Western Australia Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People from Carnarvon, Western Australia Western Australian State of Origin players