James Cook (born 7 January 1974) is a 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 ...

er who played for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

, the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne 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). Attended St Virgils College in Hobart.

Carlton

Cook played at

North Hobart North Hobart is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. As its name suggests, it lies directly north of the CBD. The main street of North Hobart is Elizabeth Street, which extends northward from the Elizabeth Street Mall in the ...

while still a teenager and was recruited by Carlton with the second pick of the

1990 AFL draft The 1990 AFL draft was the 5th annual draft of Australian rules footballers to the 14 clubs in the Australian Football League. It consisted of the national draft held at the end of the 1990 season, the pre-season draft held before the 1991 AFL ...

, which they had gained by trading

Warren McKenzie Warren McKenzie (born 31 July 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton and Sydney in the Victorian and Australian Football Leagues. McKenzie made his senior VFL debut halfway through the 1985 VFL season, against F ...

to Sydney. It was Carlton's earliest ever draft pick up until

Marc Murphy Marc Murphy may refer to: * Marc Murphy (footballer) * Marc Murphy (chef) Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format us ...

in 2005. He had to wait three seasons to make his debut and in just his fourth league game kicked six goals in a win over

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

at Optus Oval to earn an AFL Rising Star nomination, and better the five goals which he booted against Hawthorn two weeks earlier. His performances for the rest of the season were poor but he was picked in both the Qualifying Final and Semi Finals, where he kicked three and two goals respectively. He made just seven appearances in 1995, a premiership year for Carlton, but was not able to establish a place in the strong forward-line come the finals. At the end of the year, Cook was traded to Footscray in exchange for Ben Sexton.

Western Bulldogs

After struggling in his first year at Footscray, Cook played the best football of his career in 1997, with the club now re-branded the Western Bulldogs. He kicked 36 goals for the season, 17 of them in the final three games as the Bulldogs fell just short of making a Grand Final, to finish third in their goal-kicking behind

Simon Minton-Connell Simon Minton-Connell (born 26 April 1969) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Australian Football League (AFL). VFL/AFL career Nephew of the great full-forward Peter Hudson ...

and Chris Grant. His run started in round 22 when he kicked seven goals and three behinds against Hawthorn. He then kicked a game high four goals to help his club defeat Sydney in the Qualifying Final, outperforming Swans forward Tony Lockett. Cook then kick six goals in the preliminary final against Adelaide. He could have had seven, but an apple thrown from the crowd disrupted the kick when he went for his seventh goal. This would prove to be costly, as the crows came back to win by two points, ending the Bulldogs' season. In 1998 he kicked 23 goals from 11 appearances and in 1999 he finished with 32 from 19 games. On five occasions during this time he kicked five goals or more but also played many games where he saw little of the ball and he was offloaded to Melbourne in the 1999 Pre-Season draft.

Melbourne

At Melbourne, he only managed three games but won a game against the Kangaroos when he kicked six goals before an ankle injury forced his retirement.

References

* *Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, James 1974 births Living people Carlton Football Club players Western Bulldogs players Melbourne Football Club players North Hobart Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Tasmania