The Demons coach has offered tennis fitness guru Brett Stephens an open invitation to experience life in the club's inner sanctum this year, with a view to exploring a more meaningful position for 2015.

 

Any role Stephens plays in Roos' first season at Melbourne would be minimal and under an ad hoc arrangement, given that he will join his wife Cara Black – Zimbabwe's most successful women's tennis player – on the WTA tour (starting with this month's Australian Open) and be overseas for the bulk of the year.

 

However Stephens told AFL.com.au that Cara, who will turn 35 in February (18 years his junior), could retire at year's end, after which he might consider taking on an official role at Melbourne, perhaps in player development.

 

Roos and Stephens were teammates at Fitzroy for seven seasons and have maintained a strong friendship.

 

Stephens has earned universal respect in the tennis world over the past 20 years for his ability to physically and mentally prime players. He is regarded as a combination of fitness coach, psychologist, dietitian, mentor, advisor, confidant and motivator.

 

Stephens has also been sought out by other professional sportspeople, including golfers and surfers, for help with their mental approach.

 

"I've had a few chats with 'Roosy' about it," Stephens told AFL.com.au when asked if Roos or Fremantle coach Ross Lyon, another former Fitzroy teammate, had approached him about a return to football.

 

"I've never really been in a position to entertain any footy involvement because I've never been in Australia that much, but I'll get along a little bit during the year if I'm around and I may get involved a bit more with what Roosy's doing further down the track.

 

"He wants to me to go down there any time I'm in town, and even go into the (coach's) box on match days to feel things out and see if there might be a role for me.

 

"I think I could play a role in development or helping guys who are struggling a bit. I just love helping people get the best out of themselves.

 

"It's so long ago that I was involved in the football environment, so it might be fun to get back involved, even in a small way, to help Roosy with what he's trying to achieve."

 

At Roos' invitation, Stephens attended the Demons' camp at Sorrento in early December. Stephens didn't have to travel far, only 15km in fact, from his home in Fingal on the Mornington Peninsula.

 

A return to football for Stephens would be just another intriguing development in a much-travelled life that even he describes as "a bizarre but wonderful journey".

His story is one of a footballer who overcame several knockbacks before finally earning an opportunity, one that ultimately led to his remarkably unexpected second sporting career in international tennis.

  

Stephens reflects on his 133-game AFL career with enormous satisfaction, given the long, circuitous route he took to get there.

 

Originally from the eastern Melbourne suburb of Croydon, he had stints with Essendon's under-19s and reserves, Tasmanian clubs North Hobart and Glenorchy, the Sydney Swans reserves, did a pre-season at Collingwood and played for East Perth before making the grade at Fitzroy at 26.

 

"That nine-year journey just to get to Fitzroy gave me the tools for my next career in tennis. It taught me a lot about dealing with negativity, which is one of the biggest things in professional sport. I also learned different ways to get the best results," he said.

 

A mobile key-position player, Stephens played mainly in defence but was versatile enough, and talented enough, to bag seven goals in a losing team in just his seventh game.

 

He played at AFL level until he was 32, twice finishing runner-up in Fitzroy's best and fairest (once to Roos), representing both Tasmania and Victoria (once as captain of a Victorian B team) and playing for Australia in International Rules.

 

"After striving so hard just to play one game, I couldn't believe the things I ended up achieving," he said.

 

Stephens was nicknamed "Moose" by teammate Mick Conlan, who thought his mullet hairstyle "looked like a set of antlers". Despite still boasting longish, dark locks, Stephens jokes that he now has a "reverse mullet – party at the front, business at the back".

 

Always a fitness fanatic, Stephens was one of the hardest trainers at his various clubs.

 

Skinny as a teenager, Stephens added 10kg over three or four years from pumping weights and consuming copious amounts of milk, eggs and bananas. He admits to going too far with weights at one stage before finding his optimal strength/endurance balance.

 

"My biggest qualification for being a fitness coach was my practical experience," he said. "I was an athlete who worked out how to get the best out of himself physically and mentally, and I've just tried to transfer that formula onto others by looking at the whole package."

 

Stephens worked in fitness and player development at both East Perth and Fitzroy, but when his AFL career ended in 1993 he was undecided on a career path.

 

He had never played tennis, and Stephens concedes he fell into the sport through dumb luck.

 

Ex-Fitzroy trainer and tennis coach Gavin Hopper initially opened some doors, and one contact led to another in America as Stephens' growing reputation preceded him.

 

Stephens didn't take the job seriously for the first couple of years, largely because it didn't feel like a real job. It never has.

 

But after working with about 15 players, including four simultaneously, Stephens earned his big meal ticket: a gig with Sampras. The American champion approached him, and they worked together for the last five years of Sampras' illustrious career.

 

"Pete had been No.1 in the world for six years and he didn't want to play as much – he just wanted to focus on the grand slams. My job was to look after him during his time off," Stephens said. "It wasn't exactly a tough life working with one of the all-time greats and living in LA.

 

"I don't think I had a major impact on him, but I enjoyed going along for the ride and watching him win a few grand slams. And we became good mates."

 

Asked what set Sampras apart, Stephens says: "He put it on the line in big moments and didn't worry much about the consequences. In the end, the official (player) rankings are mental rankings more than anything …

 
Brett Stephens enjoys surfing near his home on the Mornington Peninsula. Picture: AFL Media

"Something that held me back as a footballer was that I wanted it too much. I improved once I learned to chill out more on the field. I'm big on finding that relaxed intensity, getting in the moment, not looking too far forward or back, and just having the goal of not being a perfectionist but being the best competitor you can be."

 

Stephens continues to enjoy some fringe benefits of his occupation. Sampras and US rock band Pearl Jam were fans of one another and would watch each other perform, and in the process Stephens has become friendly with the band members. Pearl Jam will tour Australia from late January, and Stephens plans to see them at the Big Day Out.

 

"It's handy for getting a few free backstage passes," he said.

 

Stephens was recently reminded of just how unusual his sporting career has been when his friend John Fitzgerald, the former Australian tennis player, told him that he was unique because he has spent more time in a sport that has been foreign to him than the one he grew up with.

 

"I suppose that's pretty strange, but I wouldn't change it," Stephens said.

 

Tennis also provided a love match for Stephens, leading him to Cara after coaching her brothers Byron and Wayne in the late '90s.

 

Their 20-month-old son Lachlan was born in Melbourne.

 

"That was the first winter I'd spent at home since I retired from footy in '93," Stephens said.

 

They plan to divide their time between the Mornington Peninsula and Cara's family in Africa.

 

Stephens says he would have left the tennis circuit years ago had Cara not still been playing.

 

Travelling is one of the best and worst parts of the job. Stephens marvels that for quite some time he hasn't felt like a tourist in cities like Rome, Paris and New York, but admits that living out of a suitcase can become a grind.

 

"Tennis is probably the most brutal sport because of the travel," he said.

 

Stephens loves nothing more than being at home and watching the footy on TV on a Friday night and getting up for a surf in the morning.

 

His semi-rural property, which he bought 14 years ago, is little more than a kilometre from St Andrews Beach.

 

Stephens is still in great shape. Every day he goes for a run, or a ride, or a gym workout.

 

He says he is obsessed with surfing: "If the surf's up, I'm out there non-stop."

 

Stephens is financially comfortable – indeed, Cara alone has won almost $7 million in prizemoney – but says he has never been motivated by money.

 

"It's about enjoying the moment and chasing your passions," he said. "At the end of the tennis season I'd snowboard in Canada for a month. And I bought this property so I could surf. I'm still trying to live life to the full."

 

"The fierceness of the competition. I'm probably a bit biased towards Roosy and Rossy Lyon's teams, but they're both similar in terms of the physical play they demand from their players. A lot of people say the game is getting ugly and scrappy but I love that; I love it when guys are going 100 per cent and it's a real battle and they're not giving up. But I'm also amazed by the skill level. It's fantastic to watch."

 

"When teams start playing keepings-off and they're running the clock down. Roosy probably had something to do with that."

 

"I'd go back to two (field) umpires. That's plenty. The game would be even more free-flowing."

 

"(Gary) Ablett's commitment and work ethic, on top of his skill and how he reads the game, is unbelievable. For me, that's a champion."

 

"Not too many. A couple of minor knee ops, a few broken fingers, and I've got no cartilage in my nose so I'll have to get that fixed up at some stage. My major problem was I had up to 20 concussions – a few major ones and a lot of minor ones. Which is a bit scary now when I hear all the talk about long-terms effects. I've listened with interest to some of the discussion. You naturally start to worry a bit. A lot of people would say the concussions have affected me (laughs). But seriously, I feel fine. I'm lucky. In an under-19s first semi-final for Essendon, I got pulverised and ended up in hospital throwing my guts up, but they had me out playing the next week in a helmet. If I'd copped another whack, who knows what would've happened to me. That would never happen these days."

 

"I haven't. Once I finished playing I didn't really follow anyone, and Fitzroy's demise probably contributed to that. I started following the teams that Roosy and Rossy have been associated with, and I give them my support whenever I can. I'm really pumped that they've done so well, and I'm disappointed that Rossy hasn't won a flag yet after coming so close on a few occasions. If they weren't coaching, I wouldn't have a personal interest in a team, but I just love watching the game. With Melbourne, it's only early days and there's obviously a long way to go but you'd hope Roosy will have some kind of impact. Freo would have to be a big chance again, and I hope they do it for Rossy's sake. My biggest thrill in footy after I stopped playing was when Roosy coached the Swans to the (2005) flag. He got me along there to watch the game with his wife Tami, and he got me into the rooms after the game, and then I was on his table for the celebratory dinner that night. That was a great experience."