No wonder he was finished as a footballer by 28.

Brock McLean’s double life battling alcohol and drug issues and an eating disorder — and the remarkable road back

Paywall.

Terrible story. I remember seeing him out relatively frequently in that 2012 - 2015 period. Venues where that sort of stuff was rife although it was never my thing.

He was always too slow. Looked like he was 38 when he was 28. Hang on, I'm 38 and look younger now ?

Edited May 15, 20205 yr by Northern Summer

Jeez the picture of him for the article doesn't look great. I'm not trying to derail the conversation to mitigate his own personal choices, at the end of the day he had free will to make his own path, but our club at the time was such a disgrace and I really did think we had a player with him. He absolutely killed it in the final against the Saints, he racked up possessions easy and was a decent kick of the footy. He should've been a long term top player for us, instead we brought in the tanking culture to go on top of an already poor club culture.

He went to Carlton, which to me smacked of arrogance when talking with distain about the tanking attitudes at Melbourne. Carlton were just as bad as us, they just did it early enough to not cop any sanctions.

12 hours ago, demonstone said:

Paywall.

Ex-AFL player reveals he was sacked inside a strip club

3 hours ago, Pates said:

Jeez the picture of him for the article doesn't look great. I'm not trying to derail the conversation to mitigate his own personal choices, at the end of the day he had free will to make his own path, but our club at the time was such a disgrace and I really did think we had a player with him. He absolutely killed it in the final against the Saints, he racked up possessions easy and was a decent kick of the footy. He should've been a long term top player for us, instead we brought in the tanking culture to go on top of an already poor club culture.

He went to Carlton, which to me smacked of arrogance when talking with distain about the tanking attitudes at Melbourne. Carlton were just as bad as us, they just did it early enough to not cop any sanctions.

Totally agree in actual fact he stated that was the reason he asked for a trade ...out club was in a mess void of leadership or culture & one wonders if players like him & Sylvia were at Geelong , Hawks, Swans what would the outcomes have been???

Wow looks shocking. Looks like the drugs and alcohol have taken a toll. 

2 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

Totally agree in actual fact he stated that was the reason he asked for a trade ...out club was in a mess void of leadership or culture & one wonders if players like him & Sylvia were at Geelong , Hawks, Swans what would the outcomes have been???

He was exactly the sort of player we needed to get out of our club - as he himself says, he was partying too hard

I think he read the play beautifully and got himself a nice extended and expensive contract at the Blues when his form over the previous few years probably didn’t justify it - he definitely wasn’t the player he promised to be; more Marc Macgowan than Rob Harvey - the article talks about his ‘leg speed’ and I genuinely lol’d cos Chook was as slow as treacle 

I wonder how much gear he was raging on the night he poured a bucket of pish all over us on the couch...

Ironic that he did so while at Carltank, the only club with an assistant coach who happily admitted they were tanking 

Very sad?

11 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

No wonder he was finished as a footballer by 28

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/brock-mcleans-double-life-battling-alcohol-and-drug-issues-and-an-eating-disorder-and-the-remarkable-road-back/news-story/3c8b744718c05c52df92a41aff511a1a

This article is behind a pay wall   Can someone please re post it outside of the pay wall.

5 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

He was exactly the sort of player we needed to get out of our club - as he himself says, he was partying too hard

I think he read the play beautifully and got himself a nice extended and expensive contract at the Blues when his form over the previous few years probably didn’t justify it - he definitely wasn’t the player he promised to be; more Marc Macgowan than Rob Harvey - the article talks about his ‘leg speed’ and I genuinely lol’d cos Chook was as slow as treacle 

I wonder how much gear he was raging on the night he poured a bucket of pish all over us on the couch...

Ironic that he did so while at Carltank, the only club with an assistant coach who happily admitted they were tanking 

Question though: was he that sort of a player because our club culture was so bad already? Had he had better role models around him, a stronger support network, not to mention a club that actually wanted to win, would he have continued partying and binging?

I suppose we’ll never know but he was another example of prime talent handed to us with us being able to squeeze very little out of him. 

11 minutes ago, Pates said:

Question though: was he that sort of a player because our club culture was so bad already? Had he had better role models around him, a stronger support network, not to mention a club that actually wanted to win, would he have continued partying and binging?

I suppose we’ll never know but he was another example of prime talent handed to us with us being able to squeeze very little out of him. 

This is the million $ question of nature vs nurture isn't it. We literally lost an entire "generation" of half decent success to absolute failure because of a lack of on field leaders and a footy club in turmoil? Where was the personal responsibility of the players, the internal drive to turn the footy side of things around? 

It is clearly very grey between both and there is failures of all front for that era, Brock being a great example of that.

1 hour ago, Ohio USA - David said:

This article is behind a pay wall   Can someone please re post it outside of the pay wall.

As a general rule we don’t allow the full posting of others content. 

 Here is a short synopsis from Fox Footy’s website. 

Ex-AFL player reveals he was sacked inside a strip club

Search sacked on Apple podcasts and you can hear the whole conversation.

10 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

Totally agree in actual fact he stated that was the reason he asked for a trade ...out club was in a mess void of leadership or culture & one wonders if players like him & Sylvia were at Geelong , Hawks, Swans what would the outcomes have been???

Yet at the time he was touted as our future captain, such was the opinion of his leadership. As soon as he asked for a trade, I lost that opinion of his ability. It's easy to walk away from a challenge right in front of you. Compare Brock's decision with Chunk's determination to see it through at MFC. 

Brock went from one tanking club to another. 

Excellent player when on fire, e.g. the StK final, but injury prone.

I'm amazed our club leaders either turned a blind eye, or somehow failed to recognise his life-style.

I thought that sort of behaviour was mainly at West Coast.

Brock should have gone there. He would have had a bonanza.

Was it endemic at Melbourne?  Are any players like that now?

4 minutes ago, Jumping Jack Clennett said:

I'm amazed our club leaders either turned a blind eye, or somehow failed to recognise his life-style.

I thought that sort of behaviour was mainly at West Coast.

Brock should have gone there. He would have had a bonanza.

Was it endemic at Melbourne?  Are any players like that now?

mclean, sylvia, moloney, watts...seems it was culturally endemic throughout the club during the mid-00s

I seem to remember he donated $5,000 in the drive to help get the club out of financial trouble.

Then he went to Carlton. Erratic behaviour.

Not sad at all.He was very much the author of his own misfortune and part of the problem at the club.Not even gracious enough to leave without embroiling the club in an unwarranted and debilitating enquiry

8 hours ago, deebug said:

Very sad?

 

4 hours ago, Pates said:

Question though: was he that sort of a player because our club culture was so bad already? Had he had better role models around him, a stronger support network, not to mention a club that actually wanted to win, would he have continued partying and binging?

I suppose we’ll never know but he was another example of prime talent handed to us with us being able to squeeze very little out of him. 

 

3 hours ago, Cards13 said:

This is the million $ question of nature vs nurture isn't it. We literally lost an entire "generation" of half decent success to absolute failure because of a lack of on field leaders and a footy club in turmoil? Where was the personal responsibility of the players, the internal drive to turn the footy side of things around? 

It is clearly very grey between both and there is failures of all front for that era, Brock being a great example of that.

The culture question is an interesting one.

I'm not sure the partying and drug binges are an issue as far as winning games of football is concerned.

West Coast are a prime example of that.

The current top 4 teams are also renowned.

Clubs, the AFL and fans will turn a blind eye if you're winning...

However as far as beyond football goes a few will fall by the wayside...it's sad but it also mirrors society.

Edited May 16, 20205 yr by rjay

41 minutes ago, Dee-Nee said:

I seem to remember he donated $5,000 in the drive to help get the club out of financial trouble.

Then he went to Carlton. Erratic behaviour.

Me too. Although I thought it was 10k and at the time I vaguely remember him in line for the captaincy? Anyway he didnt get that or a big contract and the rest is history. He left a gigantic knife in the clubs back and I hope he is never welcome back. 

9 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

He was exactly the sort of player we needed to get out of our club - as he himself says, he was partying too hard

What;  you think Brock was the only partying binging player at Melbourne during  those times.

What, about Febey's habit.?   What about that guy Riggers.? What about others?

What about watt.?

What about  'oges.?

 

I'm sorry,  but the culture issues had been boiling along since the mid 90's.  Possibly earlier than that.

No one coach has been able to eradicate this,  but one did try hard.

15 hours ago, Pates said:

but our club at the time was such a disgrace and I really did think we had a player with him.

A player's decision to binge on booze and drugs has nothing to do with how 'disgraceful', as you put it, a club is. West Coast won a flag with drug binged players...

12 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

one wonders if players like him & Sylvia were at Geelong , Hawks, Swans what would the outcomes have been???

Once again, the West Coast analogy makes a mockery of these what ifs. 

13 minutes ago, MyFavouriteMartian said:

What;  you think Brock was the only partying binging player at Melbourne during  those times.

What, about Febey's habit.?   What about that guy Riggers.? What about others?

What about watt.?

What about  'oges.?

 

I'm sorry,  but the culture issues had been boiling along since the mid 90's.  Possibly earlier than that.

No one coach has been able to eradicate this,  but one did try hard.

The same 'culture' issues which were rife at Geelong, Hawthorn, West Coast, , North Melbourne....All of them won premierships...

Edited May 16, 20205 yr by dieter