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.I’ve said to a few of my close family and friends that if footy finished now, I’d finish really content and happy. I didn’t move to St Kilda to find only that and to get that — I came here to go on and be a better player than I was last year and to win a flag, as well. That’s driving me.”
As players from the 2010 premiership side — Brown one of just five left at the club — and the 2006 national draft started shifting clubs or calling time on their playing careers, the questions started for the defender.
When is my time? What more can I do? They were swirling, he says.
“My whole footballing world and perspective on footy and everything that goes with it — form, injuries, everything — was moulded in the bubble of Collingwood,” Brown explains.
“It wasn’t until I came here that I realised there was whole other perspectives.
“That gave me the drive back as if I was a young player. Richo was my development coach when I first got to Collingwood and to sit in his office now and go through the same sort of things about my plan and how I’m going to attack it every week, it does take me back to those moments when I was 17 and dreaming of winning a flag. Yes, it’s later in my career but we’re only young in the scheme of life. It’s been unbelievable and I feel rejuvenated mentally.”
The size of the place struck him first.
The facility at Seaford — while still housing all of the hallmarks of a professional club — is far smaller than the Magpies’ powerhouse on Olympic Boulevard.
St Kilda reminded Brown “of what a country footy club is, plus all the elite training facilities” where “everyone knows everyone”.
There’s no club shop on site at Seaford, and when he forgot his socks for the first training session, Brown knew he wasn’t in Kansas anymore
