The 24-year-old was selected with pick No. 42 in last Wednesday’s rookie draft and his mature age and ready-made body has him well placed to play senior football in 2015.
The SUNS ruck division was severely tested last season due to long-term injuries suffered by emerging ruckmen Tom Nicholls, Zac Smith and Daniel Gorringe. Key posts Rory Thompson and Sam Day were even called upon to turn their hands to rucking duties during desperate times.
Brooksby revealed that he didn’t have a strong indication the SUNS would select him at any stage of the rookie draft and thought his best chance of landing at an AFL club would be at Essendon.
“I sort of went into the rookie draft a little bit blind. I spent a couple of days with Essendon in the lead up. I wasn’t really expecting anything from the Gold Coast really. I spoke to a couple of other clubs in the lead up,” Brooksby told Adelaide radio station FIVEaa.
“When it got into the 40’s (during the rookie draft), I conceded that it probably wasn’t going to happen and when it did happen I was just happy. Pretty stoked about it, obviously a bit of a change about it but excited.”
The athletic South Australian is renowned for his competitive nature, but football wasn’t always his calling card. Brooksby turned down a handful of American college offers to play basketball, opting to play football after a series of injuries.
His decision to pursue football over basketball paid dividends last week when the GC SUNS selected him whilst he sat at his local podiatrist having a new pair of orthotics constructed. Ultimately, it was just reward for a stellar season that saw him win South Adelaide’s best and fairest ahead of SANFL champion Joel Cross.
“I didn’t really play footy until I was 18 or 19 until the under 18 system at South. It was basketball for ten years and then the opportunity to play both for a year unfolded. I suppose the last five or six years led me here,” he said.
Brooksby emerged from his father’s shadow in 2014 at South Adelaide. The elder Brooksby, Phil, played 278 games for the Panthers between 1978 and 1989, winning four night premierships in a successful career as a key defender.
At 197cm, Brooksby is considered slightly undersized for his position, but the mobile ruckman believes despite the query over his height he is more than capable of competing with the monsters in the AFL.
“Obviously speaking to a lot of the clubs their biggest query was my height. I make up for that in other areas reading the ball and my body. Competing with the big monsters each week will be a challenge.”
