Merv Brooks (1943 - 1944)

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http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/7013/mervbrooks.jpg

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VFL Stats (http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/M/Merv_Brooks.html)

Born: 19-Jan-1919
Debut: 24y 137d
Last: 25y 115d)
182 cm 75 kg

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Lions honour Roy boy (http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/122552/default.aspx)
By Paul Daffey
4:24 PM Fri 02 Sep, 2011

Before his death on August 19, aged 92, Merv Brooks was Fitzroy's oldest former footballer.

He came under notice from a Fitzroy scout, who asked him down to the Brunswick Street Oval. Brooks failed to play more senior games for the Roys because the distance from Sunshine to Fitzroy meant he could barely train.

Brooks was a rugged half-back. His son Daryl described him as "all bone". He played in a straight-ahead manner that unsettled opponents.

Brooks's two senior games at Fitzroy consisted of a win over North Melbourne at Brunswick Street and a victory over Collingwood at Victoria Park.

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Obituary (http://www.donaldhs.vic.edu.au/pastplayers/mervynbrooksobituary.htm)

Merv spent most of his life in Sunshine, where he worked as a Blacksmith with the Tractor firm McKay's, then to become Massey -Ferguson. He started with Fitzroy in the Seconds, where he played in the 1944 Seconds Grand Final in which Fitzroy won the Flag. Merv. played in 2 Senior games with Fitzroy, the first in 1943 and then in 1944, and the Team won both of those games.
From what I have been told about Merv, he would have taken the credit for those wins. It is believed the reason he never played more Senior games, was his fitness level. He worked on a Saturday morning ,then made his way to the game. It was difficult for him to get from Sunshine to Brunswick Street for training.