New Carlton CEO Brian Cook on why he took the job, managing expectations, Liam Jones and more

When Carlton first reached out to retiring Geelong CEO Brian Cook, the answer was blunt. He explains why he took the Blues’ job, how he will manage expectations and more.

Brian Cook in his time as Cats CEO celebrates funding. Picture: Alison Wynd

It was the phone call which hooked the big fish.

Carlton board member David Campbell makes a living out of finding people jobs as a partner of Egon Zehnder International, one of the world’s most respected headhunting firms.

The Blues were falling apart at the seams and with the urging of new president Luke Sayers, Campbell picked up the phone and rang the man who had been the best AFL chief executive in the business for the past three decades.

It was a fishing exercise as Brian Cook had already stated publicly that he was heading off into semi-retirement, stepping down as Geelong CEO after 23 years at Kardinia Park.

While he’d done a deal with the Cats to remain as a consultant, most thought at the age of 66 that he was looking forward to a life of early morning swims in the ocean and then sipping cocktails in the sun in the afternoon.

Watch the first round of the 2021 AFL Draft on Fox Footy and Kayo from 7pm EDT on Wednesday November 24. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

When he answered the call from Campbell, the Cats were about to embark on another finals campaign where they were again a shot at winning the flag which would be the fourth under his watch.

“The first call I basically said, ‘No, I don’t think so’,” Cook explains. “It was just leading into the finals, but if I’m being honest I did say to him, ‘Come back to me after the finals, after we finish and we can have another talk to see if it can go anywhere’.

“I thought I was (ready to retire) a year ago when I had a long chat with (Geelong president) Colin Carter about this.

“We agreed this would be my last year, we’d try and find someone and bring them in. We did all that and I signed a contract for services looking after the Foundation and the last stage of the redevelopment master plan.”

So what happened?

“I just wasn‘t in a position where I wanted to semi-retire in the end,” Cook says.

Campbell wasn’t the only one to ring back, Cook started receiving phone calls from Carlton people who he trusted as the navy blue sell went into overdrive.

Long-time football administrator Geoff Walsh, who had been a part of Carlton‘s football department review which led to the sacking of coach David Teague, was one of them as was the Blues last premiership coach David Parkin.

Brian Cook wasn’t ready to semi-retire. Picture Pam Hutchinson Photography.

After the Cats suffered an embarrassing preliminary final loss to eventual premier Melbourne, Cook met with new Geelong president Craig Drummond and told him he was dipping his toe back in the CEO pool again.

His own research and the opinions of people he trusted who‘d said Carlton was a club ready to embrace the right type of change had lured him back.

“I think the feedback I got from people that I trusted was that it‘s a good club, it has a lot of talent but it has been a touch dysfunctional in the past, that was the clear message I received,” Cook said.

“The people were referring to the board, the executive, the footy department and how it all interacted. To me it‘s about straightening the place up a little bit because there is no doubt they have done very well off-field, they’ve got 80,000 members on the back of eight wins (in 2021).

“When you think about that stat for a start there is something there.

“And if you‘re not on the favourite in the race you have to be close to it and I don’t think Carlton are too far off. My perception, my due diligence that I carried out, there is certainly talent there and there’s a large amount of resources there.

“It should be performing a little bit better than what it is from an on-field point of view, that is, albeit the women are going OK, but the men haven‘t been.

“That’s where the opportunity goes and also in my search around the place there are gaps which have the potential to be gold nuggets in there that’s also making me a bit excited as well.”

Brain Cook is leaving Geelong for a new challenge at Carlton. Picture: Alan Barber

STRAIGHTENING UP THE BLUES AND MANAGING EXPECTATION

Michael Voss used to terrorise young Geelong teams when Cook was in the early stages of rebuilding the Cats.

It was like men versus boys when Voss and his dominant Lions made their yearly visit down to Kardinia Park.

The first job for Cook at Carlton was to appoint a new senior coach. He actually hadn‘t officially started in the gig but the process was well down the track so he hopped on board late.

Having Voss at the pointy end of those discussions pleased the new CEO given he already knew the pair were aligned on two things which he rates highly - character and leadership.

“People with good values are always given second chances,” Cook says in reference to Voss‘ first coaching stint at Brisbane.

“If you get that opportunity, and Vossy is one of those, quite often those types of people become your best leaders because they have done it the hard way.

“He is very much driven by culture and good leadership. He brings more than anything else a leadership ability to the football club and we‘ve been able to surround that with some pretty good assistant coaches who have strong technical backgrounds.”

Given Carlton hasn‘t won a flag since 1995 and hasn’t played finals since 2013, Cook knows controlling expectation is going to be one of his biggest challenges.

Brian Cook was pleased that Michael Voss was at the top of the list of potential new coaches.

“I think that is an issue, I won’t move away from that,” he says. “It’s an issue that is going to need some management. The easy way for me to answer that is to say if we win a couple of games early we’ll be OK.

“The other scenario is if we lose a couple early, what happens? The members are on this threshold of intolerance in terms of what has happened.

“My perception is there is a good feeling around the place with the changes that have been made with our member base and supporter base. They wanted change and they are getting some.

“I think that will give us some space, having said that we have to improve, have to show a step up in competitiveness over long periods of the game.

“I think more than anything the supporters, if they see we are honest on the field and we are having a real crack, I think we will be OK, I think they will give us time.

“What the supporters won‘t accept, and neither will we, is anywhere in our football club where there is a lack of effort or a lack of intensity or not enough due diligence. We just have to be at our best.”

From his office overlooking the gym Cook has spotted many players coming back early to pre-season training and when pushed he nominates ruckman Tom De Koning and Fremantle recruit Adam Cerra as two players he‘s keen to see.

“It‘s an exciting list but don’t get carried away with over-estimating talent,” he warns. ”I have seen average teams just about win premierships at Hawthorn and I’ve seen ultra talented sides finish in the bottom four. You just have to find the right bunch of blokes to win games in any way.”

Cook has been lauded for his ability to create great culture within clubs, something he wishes to bring to Carlton. Picture: Alan Barber

HOW COOK WILL SHAPE BLUES CULTURE

During his VFL playing days in the Hawthorn reserves and then four senior games at Melbourne, Cook made many visits to Princes Park and they still live strong in his memory.

“I remember playing at Princes Park back in the day and they were just so vocal, that‘s what I remember about Carlton, a big club with huge amounts of passion with an ethnic base and background,” he says.

That passion is still evident today although Cook knows it needs to be harnessed better with a reputation of big-name financial backers and ex-players having more influence than they should in the club‘s operations.

“It had that reputation of stakeholders, mainly internal ones, carrying great influence around the club,” he says.

“But Luke having the ability to change half his board, adding two outstanding female directors, very good character people, those sorts of things are very attractive to me.

“Here we have a leader who has the courage and the understanding, and the relationships with people, to do these things. He has a mandate for change and he wants Carlton to be successful.

Brian Cook has backed the leadership of new Blues president Luke Sayers. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

“Every club is developing their cultures. At Carlton there are values there, I‘m not sure how committed the people are to them and how much they own them and how much they actually carry them out.

“And whether they use the values in important things like appointing people, recruiting players, those types of things which are ultra important. It is one thing to have values on the wall, it is another to actually live them.

“What I am probably saying is we need a common culture that people live.”

After a hectic month in the job Cook is keen to take a breath and start to nail down a masterplan and mission statement, streamline the operations (there are 16 committees which need cutting) and get everyone driving in the same direction on the freeway which is the analogy he likes to use.

He does take solace that his first four weeks have been dramatically different to the last time he started a new job - he came to Geelong in 1999 after nine years as West Coast Eagles CEO.

“1999 was very much about trying to stay alive, there were deep financial issues at the club and we also had a list that was not performing that well at Geelong,” he says.

“We had a lot more issues at Geelong when I got there than what Carlton have now. It is very, very different and much more positive at Carlton in my first month than what the first month at Geelong was in ‘99.”

He has bought a house in Port Melbourne just across from the beach but has been too busy with the new gig for his morning ritual of a dip in the Bay.

“My first four weeks at Carlton have not been what I would call my normal lifestyle and we‘ll let the water heat up a bit before we get back into the swimming,” he says.

“But I‘m excited, I’m glad I made this call because I’ve learnt a few things in the 33 years as a CEO so I reckon I can package that up in the next three years and make it work one way or another.”

BLUES CEO SADDENED BY JONES DECISION

New Carlton CEO Brian Cook says he is “saddened” by the early retirement of defender Liam Jones.

Jones shocked the Blues when he walked away from a year remaining on his contract because he refused to have the Covid-19 vaccination.

Cook, who had barely got his feet under the desk when the Jones situation emerged, said things escalated quickly after the initial concerns were raised.

“What turned out to be what I thought a healthy discussion about where Liam was going turned out being a retirement two weeks later,” Cook said.

Carlton were going to put Jones on the inactive list though he decided to retire. Picture: Michael Willson

“That is tough, really tough. To be honest I was saddened by it mainly because he was a guy who was playing the best football of his life, had done it the hard way at a couple of clubs, could have finished off his career in the next couple of years in a really positive way but he‘s decided to retire prematurely.

“I just feel sad for everyone really, mainly Liam. The rules are the rules, we saw our role in talking to Liam, giving him the proper medical advice, AFL doctors, club doctors, we spoke to Liam and his manager Shane (Casley) about the rules and regs and the options he had.

“We were quite straight about it, we were going to put him on the inactive list and just see what happens after that but he decided pretty much on his own to retire.”

The Blues applied to the AFL for a compensation pick to be used at either the national, rookie or pre-season draft, but were knocked back on Thursday.

They will now have to find a replacement for Jones from the club‘s supplementary list after auditioning a number of candidates over the pre-season.

Cook believes the AFL were conservative with the ruling because they‘re bracing for more vaccine-hesitant players to come forward in the coming weeks.

Originally published as New Carlton CEO Brian Cook on why he took the job, managing expectations, Liam Jones and more