{xtypo_dropcap}I{/xtypo_dropcap}f anyone had the pedigree to play league football it was Lorne Cook.

His father, Ben, played with Claremont in the mid thirties, was a well respected stalwart of the club throughout his life, serving on the committee for thirty nine years, and was paid the high compliment of having the club's fairest and best award named after him. His mother had football in her blood as well, being related to East Fremantle backman of the thirties, Lin Richards, who won a Sandover Medal in 1931 before moving to South Melbourne, and Paddy Hebbard, who captained East Perth in their dominating period of the twenties.

Cook's football began with Claremont under sixteens and under eighteens, before playing with Claremont Teachers College in the Ex Scholars Association, where he took off the Association fairest and best award as an eighteen year old in 1958. In that same year, he played in the finals for Claremont Thirds.

Making his league debut in the opening game of 1959, he lined up on a half forward flank, opposed to Subiaco, with Don Glass his opponent. “I was lucky to have some great deliverers of the ball in the side, such as Denis Marshall,” Cook recalled. Lorne Cook was a player who could match it with the talls and smalls, at home on a flank or in a pocket as well as competing for a high mark in a key position. A smooth ball handler, he was pacy on the ground and good in the air against taller opponents, and finished his game off with long, penetrating dropkicking. He was soon established as a regular member of the side, and in 1961 his form was rewarded with State selection.

“It was the Brisbane Carnival and little did we know what was around the corner,” he reminisced. “I was lucky enough to play in each of the three games, and the Victoria match was unreal. We had to win by a certain amount, but winning the game was the only thing we were conscious of. After Joe Fanchi kicked that golden goal, euphoria took over. Celebrations started immediately. The DC3 we travelled home on ran into headwinds and stopped at Melbourne, Adelaide, Forrest, and Kalgoorlie, and when we stepped into Perth Airport the amount of people there to greet us was overwhelming. Then we got a civic reception! It was a lot of reaction to a football match.”

Claremont were in the doldrums in the early sixties, but 1964 was a memorable year for them. With ex East Fremantle rover Jimmy Conway at the helm, they swept to a fairytale premiership. But the journey wasn't without a bump or two. “We had to beat West Perth in the last qualifying round to make the four,” Cook recalled. “At half time we were behind, and the air in the changerooms was one of gloom. We were all disconsolate, and Conway was doing his utmost to change the mood to a more positive one. He stood in front of the blackboard with a cigarette in his left hand and a piece of chalk in the other. “We need positiveness,” he said, in that easygoing manner he had, “no time for hesitation or nervousness.”

Then he proceeded to write on the board with his cigarette.

“We all broke up at this, and whether by design or not, it changed the atmosphere straight away, and we won the game.”

Cook was to become embroiled in controversy, however.

“After the West Perth game, I was reported, along with Irwin Lewis and West Perth's Ray Lucev. Lucev copped three weeks, Lewis two, and I was exonerated. Some interesting comments were made afterwards regarding me being let off, however, as it turned out, it was immaterial. I was injured in the preliminary final and missed the big one, which was a major disappointment,” he said.

That was to become the first of several finals eve blows for Lorne.

In 1965, Claremont made the finals, but a broken thumb in six places prevented him from taking part in them. His disappointment was forgotten the following season, when he experienced a career highlight winning the medal named after his father, the E B Cook Medal.

After losing only three games over the 1972 season, the Tigers were well fancied for a flag, but achilles problems ruled Cook out for most of the season. “I damaged my achilles tendon when running on the hard beach during pre season training and aggravated it in a pre season game against St Kilda. The doctor gave me cortisone, which had me jumping out of my skin while the effects were there, but that made it worse,” he said. “After the fifth game my season was over.”

Cook subsequently retired from league football, after 229 games in the gold and black of Claremont and ten for Western Australia. Responding to a request from coach Verdun Howell, he attempted a comeback the following year, but knew straight away it was a forlorn exercise, and left the boots in the rack.

Asked about the toughest players to beat, he named Brian France(West Perth), Fred Lewis(East Fremantle), Ken Bagley(Swan Districts), and Neville Beard and Ian Miller(Perth). Denis Marshall, John McIntosh, Les Mumme, and Kevin Clune topped the list of best he'd played with, and he also named legendary Claremont ruckman Les McClements as his boyhood idol, along with John O'Connell.

A committee member at Claremont in the late eighties, Lorne Cook's ambition now is to master the Cottesloe golf course, and has wound down his business commitments to a part time involvement. He and late wife Gay have two sons and a daughter, one of whom is in Melbourne, so travel to Victoria is often on the agenda. He enjoys getting to Claremont Oval whenever he can.

Lorne Cook started his career as a forward, ended it as a backman, and played with distinction on most parts of the ground in between. One of the leading players of his era, he will forever be part of the legendary Brisbane Carnival side of 1961.