Career
Cook played for a number of different clubs in several Australian states and territories, including the Box Hill Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and the East Perth and Subiaco Football Clubs in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL), and later captain-coached the Ainslie Football Club in the Australian Capital Territory Football League (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages). After his retirement from coaching, Cook occupied positions with the Australian Sports Commission and the West Australian Football Commission, before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of the West Coast Eagles in 1990. He quit this position in 1999 to take up the same role with Geelong.
In 1973 and 1974 Cook played in the Victorian Football Association with Box Hill for a total of 27 senior games and 20 goals with that club
Cook played four games with Melbourne Football Club in 1977 after moving from Hawthorn Football Club where he played nearly 50 games in the reserves team (although none at senior VFL level). He moved to Western Australia to pursue a Master of Education at the University of Western Australia whilst continuing his playing career with East Perth and Subiaco.
Turning to coaching, he guided East Perth to two WAFL reserves premierships and was later senior coach at Ainslie in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in 1986. Cook moved to Canberra in 1986 and took up the post of National Sports Research Coordinator with the Australian Sports Commission.
He then returned to Perth and spent two years as the general manager of the West Australian Football Development Trust and a further two years as Chief Executive Officer of the West Australian Football Commission before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the West Coast Eagles in 1990.
Appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Geelong Football Club in 1999, Cook has overseen a complete overhaul of the once-struggling club"s finances as well as being a key supporter of former coach Mark Thompson along with club president Frank Costa. Cook has been suggested as a potential future Australian Football League Chief Executive Officer, and was also suggested as a possible Chief Executive Officer for the new expansion teams, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney.
