| Max Rooke | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Rooke in April 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth | (1981-12-19)19 December 1981 (age 43) | ||
| Place of birth | Victoria, Australia | ||
| Original team(s) | Casterton | ||
| Height | 189 cm (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Weight | 93 kg (205 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Utility | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2002–2010 | Geelong | 135 (58) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2010. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Max Rooke (bornJarad Maxwell Rooke; 19 December 1981) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who played for theGeelong Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL).
A utility player, 1.89 metres (6.2 ft) tall and weighing 93 kilograms (210 lb), Rooke's versatility allowed him to play as a forward, defender, andmidfielder. Rooke made his Geelong debut in2002 and went on to become adual premiership player with the club, playing key roles in both the2007 and2009 grand final victories.
Rooke was recruited fromCasterton in 2001, and he made his debut in the second round of 2002. In 2003, he was awarded Geelong's most determined and dedicated player award. Rooke was a regular senior player until a shin injury forced him to miss the second half of2004, including the finals series, but he recovered to play all but one game in2005.
His lack of pace against small forwards was exposed in Round 20, 2005, whenMelbourne'sRussell Robertson kicked six goals against him. This prompted coachMark Thompson to move him into the midfield the following week. This move was successful, with Rooke nullifyingHall of Fame midfielderChris Judd. In Geelong's close loss to theSydney Swans in the elimination final, Rooke laid a remarkable fifteen tackles.
Rooke missed out on most of Geelong's2007 season after suffering a potential season-ending 7 cm hamstring tear in Round 13.[1] On 12 July, Geelong spent $20,000 on Rooke to receive treatment by soft-tissue expert Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfarth in Germany.[1] He returned to the side in the 106-point qualifying final win against theKangaroos after key defenderMatthew Egan suffered a season-ending foot injury.[1]
In October 2010, Rooke announced his retirement from AFL football due to an acute knee injury which kept him out for most of the2010 home-and-away season.[2]
Rooke returned to Geelong in2011 as a development coach for four seasons before joiningGold Coast as a development coach for the2016 season.[3][4] In November 2016, he joinedMelbourne as a development coach.[5] Rooke was stood down from Melbourne in May 2020 due to limitations caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[6]
In November 2006, Rooke made the decision to officially change his legal name to Max. Rooke's middle name at birth was Maxwell, and both of his grandfathers were known as Max, which led to a fondness of the name being the main reason behind the change.[7] He also sported a wild 1970s-style hairstyle and beard.[8] Rooke was known by the new name in all officialAFL records from the 2007 season onwards.
Rooke claims that he had about 20 to 30 concussions throughout his nine-year career, according to an AFL class-action writ. In a suitreminiscent to that of theNFL, Rooke is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed in theSupreme Court of Victoria in March 2023 on behalf of players employed by one or more AFL clubs between 1985 and 14 March 2023 who either suffered concussion or suffered damage from concussions, with the lawsuit seeking up to $1bn compensation for alleged long-term concussion damage to AFL players.[9]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | ||||
| 2002 | Geelong | 33 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 93 | 69 | 162 | 37 | 26 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 6.2 | 4.6 | 10.8 | 2.5 | 1.7 |
| 2003 | Geelong | 33 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 134 | 103 | 237 | 74 | 38 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 7.4 | 5.7 | 13.2 | 4.1 | 2.1 |
| 2004 | Geelong | 33 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 47 | 98 | 38 | 18 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 8.9 | 3.5 | 1.6 |
| 2005 | Geelong | 33 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 131 | 129 | 260 | 88 | 68 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 11.3 | 3.8 | 3.0 |
| 2006 | Geelong | 33 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 114 | 121 | 235 | 62 | 55 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 13.8 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| 2007 | Geelong | 33 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 38 | 45 | 83 | 26 | 27 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 4.8 | 5.6 | 10.4 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| 2008 | Geelong | 33 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 113 | 156 | 269 | 84 | 70 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 5.7 | 7.8 | 13.5 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
| 2009 | Geelong | 33 | 22 | 24 | 15 | 135 | 108 | 243 | 97 | 76 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 6.1 | 4.9 | 11.0 | 4.4 | 3.5 |
| 2010 | Geelong | 33 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Career | 135 | 58 | 29 | 812 | 783 | 1595 | 508 | 380 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 11.8 | 3.8 | 2.8 | ||
