Brooke Fox set to become first Eastern Devils footballer to reach 250 games

BROOKE Fox had never kicked a Sherrin until she moved to Melbourne but will this weekend reach a milestone no other Eastern Devils player has achieved.

Brooke Fox in action for Eastern Devils. Picture: Russ Canham

BROOKE Fox had never kicked a Sherrin until she moved to Melbourne but will this weekend reach a milestone no other Eastern Devils player has achieved.

Fox grew up in the New South Wales town of Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley and moved to the big smoke at the turn of the century for university studies as a secondary school teacher at Deakin University.

That university offer didn’t lead to a career in education — she now works as a waging manager with Tabcorp watching horse racing — but it offered her an opportunity in Australian rules football.

“AFL, you’d see one game on TV a week and that was only the Swans match pretty much,” Fox said of her days in her hometown.

“That’s as much as I knew, I pretty much just knew Tony Lockett.”

Brooke Fox in action for Eastern Devils in her first year at the club in 2000.

Muswellbrook has this year fielded a women’s team for the first time. “I didn’t think I would see that in my lifetime,” she said.

The Eastern Devils Football Club was based at Deakin University’s Burwood campus before moving to its current home at Mulgrave Reserve.

“Rocked up to enrolment day and a few girls came and said, ‘do you want to join the footy club?’,” Fox said.

“I didn’t know what code they were talking about but I said I would give it a go.

“Straight away the girls were really welcoming and it was a good vibe to be at the club.”

Fox, 37, quickly came to love the club and the game and will this weekend become the first Devils’ player to play 250 games.

In just her second year at the Devils she was made president, quickly becoming part of the lifeblood at the club.

The Boronia resident missed out on the 2008 VWFL premiership when she was co-captain after injuring her knee in the finals.

But five years later she recovered from what should have been a season-ending shoulder injury to be a part of the Devils’ 2013 flag

“That was my 13th or 14th season so to finally get there with some people from the start was a really great experience,” she said.

Fox suffered the first of two knee reconstructions in 2001. She has also endured two shoulder reconstructions and an obscure thumb reconstruction.

“They call it skier’s thumb but I have never been to the snow,” she said.

Despite the setbacks and coming from rugby league heartland, Fox will reach a Devils’ milestone no other player has reached.

“I think it is very special, it has probably just dawned on me in the last few days about how big an achievement it is, especially being at the one club,” she said.

“There has been a few ups and downs but many fond memories and made some very good friends.”