‘I just can't put on shoes and socks': Dermott Brereton's crippling legacy

Sydney Morning Herald

06-06-2025

Former Hawthorn great and media commentator Dermott Brereton has graphically described how he cannot put his shoes and socks on, and struggles to walk down stairs or shake hands on some days, due to the severe physical toll of playing football.
In a powerful speech at the Melbourne Cricket Club, Brereton, who played in a famously combative style, detailed how his present life was impacted by injuries, how he struggled to sleep due to shoulder pain and that he was still feeling the impact of taking anti-inflammatory medications for four decades.
'Some mornings my beautiful partner Julie has to put on my shoes and socks for me. With the pain in my spine, where they put in a cage inserted there, I can't reach. I just can't put on socks and shoes,' Brereton, a five-time premiership centre half-forward for Hawthorn and one of the AFL's most visible commentators, told the function at the MCC dining room.
'Some days I have to walk down the stairs sideways because I haven't any cartilage - bone on bone, that is - for 40 years,' Brereton said, in his 'Ode to football' for the Norm Smith Oration at the MCG.
'Some days I can't shake hands with other men, and if they do so, I fear they'll re-open some of the broken bones in my hands from defenders' spoils and from when [an opponent] jumped on my hand deliberately.
'Some days I have to crab my way the stairs because my often half-a-dozen times reconstructed ankle will not flex any more.'
Brereton's description of his physical ailments came in the final minutes of a speech – a mix of humour and pathos – in which he detailed his journey as the son of immigrants in Frankston to footy stardom as Hawthorn's centre half-forward.
He was followed by another champion of that era, Tim Watson, whose light-hearted recollections were highlighted by humorous accounts of his recruitment by Essendon, his family in Dimboola and the eccentricities of legendary coach Kevin Sheedy.
'To be honest with you, Tim, Essendon and our [mid-'80s] battles took you to the edge of safety, and, for me, that is always where you get the best view of life,' Brereton said.