In 2015, Dom Brew was whacking away in the reserves at his home club Albury, managing just three senior games and watching on as those Tigers won the senior premiership after his reserves team was eliminated by arch-rival Wodonga in a preliminary final.
Brew, 18 at the time and desperately seeking opportunity, moved 5km down the road to North Albury simply to play senior country football.
The Hoppers’ coach at the time was none other than AFL great and triple premiership Lion Jason Akermanis, and the nuggety young midfielder found somebody who believed in his ability and gave him the belief he needed to become a dominant winner of the VFL’s highest individual honour, the J.J.Liston Trophy, just nine years later.
“When I moved to North Albury it was all about opportunity, and I’m also so grateful and so happy I had Aker there, and he just gave me full faith and made me believe in myself … he believed in me more than I did,” Brew said.
“He just pushed me and (now Geelong star) Shaun (Mannagh) to get down here (to the VFL) and pretty much the rest is history.”
Brew’s mates often remind him of the time he couldn’t get a game in an Albury team that admittedly boasted former AFL players such as Chris Hyde, Dean Polo, Setanta and Aisake o’hAilpin and SANFL Magarey medallist Brayden O’Hara, but it was all part of the journey of a footballer who has always had to do it the hard way.
“Coming through as a junior I didn’t really get a look in. I didn't do TAC Cup, I came through under-18s into the seconds and seniors, I didn't get a look at my home club and had to move to play senior football at North Albury, which I'm forever grateful for.”
A quintessential hard worker and team man, Brew nevertheless made a bold prediction to new coach Jimmy Allan when pre-season training kicked off prior to 2024 – telling him he would win the Liston Trophy.
And anyone that knows him is not surprised at all that the big call came off, especially when the new coach redirected his focus and gave him the perspective he needed to live up to his own expectations.
“I said something to Jimmy at the start of the year that it’s always about proving people wrong and Jimmy said it’s actually about proving yourself right – and that’s pretty true,” Brew said.
“I suppose that’s where the mindset was at the start of the year. It was obviously a bold statement and Jimmy had a smile. I think that was the first time I’d really met him, so he was probably thinking ‘what have I got here?’.
“Obviously my roots are as a tagger and I’ve actually played on a lot of boys in the league and I still do, so to win by that much (nine votes) is a bit of a shock.”
Brew’s was a dominant win.
He polled 31 votes, the second highest in the award’s history to have the medal won by Round 17 ahead of Gold Coast half back Rory Aktkins and perennial podium sitter Boyd Woodcock from Southport.
So big was his lead, the count was called off with four rounds.
But as the ultimate team player, he was only thinking about his mates and the job ahead in Sunday’s Grand Final against the Sharks
“It’s pretty special. It probably won’t sink in (for a while), I’m pretty much on job for this weekend to be honest,” Brew said.
The secret to Werribee making it back to the big dance despite losing more than 600 games of experience from club greats such as dual Liston winner Tom Gribble, Michael Sodomaco, Matt Hanson, Mannagh, Josh Porter and Sam Clohesy, is as simple as taking on the philosophy of one of the most successful modern day sporting teams.
“I’m a big NRL man. You look at Penrith Panthers they’ve got this football system where it doesn’t matter if their star playmaker goes out on whatever line they are able to replace them and he will perform,” he said.
“Even though it is not a direct replacement for the ones we have lost, they are able to fill the role and play their way and the club’s brand and play it for the team.
“I know we’ve got a pretty good program in what we do and it’s not so much the individual performing to that high standard, they’ve just got to play their role and if they do that then we win.”
VFL State Team captain, Smithy’s VFL Team of the Year captain, Liston Trophy, VFL Coaches MVP, and now Grand Final skipper, it has been a year for the ages, but none of it means anything without the ultimate prize on Sunday.
“I would trade it all in for a premiership this week, every individual accolade I’ve ever won, to get the ultimate reward and ultimate success for this great club,” he said.
“I know I touched on Pena (CEO Mark Penaluna), but there’s so many other great special people, so to bring some silverware back to the Werribee Football Club and the Werribee community would mean the absolute world to me and I would be very a very happy man.”
J.J.LISTON TROPHY
31: Dom Brew (Werribee)
22: Rory Atkins (Gold Coast)
20: Boyd Woodcock (Southport)
19: Mitch Hardie (Geelong)
17: Jarryd Lyons (Brisbane Lions)
17: Deven Robertson (Brisbane Lions)
16: Brayden Crossley (Southport)
16: Riley Garcia (Footscray)
16: Billy Gowers (Port Melbourne)
15: Jacob Dawson (Southport)
15: Harvey Hooper (Port Melbourne)
CLUB-BY-CLUB
Box Hill Hawks: S.Mitchell 9, F.Maginness 8, C.Brown, H.Morrison 7, M.Ramsden, J.Ward 6, S.Butler, C.Porter 5, H.Hustwaite 4, M.Hall, N.Watson 3, C.Mackenzie 2, L.Meek, N.Reeves 1. Total: 67.
Brisbane Lions: J.Lyons, D.Robertson 17, D.Fort 9, J.Tunstill 7, D.Joyce 4, L.Ashcroft, L.Beecken, L.Morris 3, L.Lloyd, B.Ryan 2, W.McLachlan, B.Reville, H.Sharp, H.Smith 1. Total: 74.
Carlton: J.Binns 8, L.McMahon 6, M.Pittonet 5, Z.Maher 4, J.Carroll, W.Hayes 3, G.Hewett 2, N.Cahill, D.Cuningham, P.Dozzi, Lachlan Young 1. Total: 36.
Casey Demons: M.White 11, B.Laurie 10, O.Sestan 4, S.McAdam, T.Sparrow 3, J.Billings 2, B.Brown, K.Brown, T.Fullarton, A.Moniz-Wakefield, K.Tholstrup, A.Tomlinson 1. Total: 39.
Coburg: J.Trudgeon 12, F.Gentile, C.Keogh 5, D.Toohey 4, J.D’Intinosante, D.Kalpakis, M.Podhajski 3, H.Bromell, J.Corigliano, L.Podhajski, R.Sturgess 2, W.Bella, S.Grant, K.Weightman 1. Total: 46.
Collingwood: F.Macrae 7, N.Long, J.Richards 5, E.Allan, L.Sullivan 3, J.Bytel, C.Dean 2, A.Johnson, O.Markov, R.Sparkes 1. Total: 30.
Essendon: E.Tsatas 12, N.Bryan 9, A.Roberts, W.Setterfield 5, J.Hately, N.Hind, X.O’Neill, A.Perkins, D.Shiel 3, J.Peris 2, S.El-Hawli 2 (plus 5 for Northern Bullants), N.Caddy, T.Goldstein, J.Shanahan 1. Total: 53.
Footscray: R.Garcia 16, R.Sanders 10, C.Craig-Peters 7, T.Bianco 6, J.Macrae 6, R.Lobb 5, J.Harmes 4, O.Baker, C.Daniel, C.Poulter 3, J.Freijah, H.Gallagher 2, J.Busslinger, L.McNeil, A.Scott 1. Total: 70.
Frankston: G.Grey, M.Johnson, T.Mynott 7, S.Quirk 6, J.Butland, T.Campbell-Farrell, T.Murphy 3, A.Grant 2, T.Milne, J.Newnes, J.Voss 1. Total: 41.
Geelong Cats: M.Hardie 19, T.Clohesy 10, B.Parfitt 9, S.Mannagh 7, M.Knevitt 6, T.Conway 5, T.Bruhn, L.Humphries 3, D.Capiton, G.Rohan, R.Stanley, G.Stevens 2, J.Clark, M.Herbert, S.Neale 1. Total: 73.
Gold Coast SUNS: R.Atkins 22, B.Fiorini, N.Moyle 8, B.Long, J.Tsitas 5, A.Davies, A.Sexton 4, J.Farrar, J.Jeffrey, L.Lombard 3, B.Ellis, J.Lukosius, E.Read 2, L.Casboult, S.Day, D.Macpherson 1. Total: 74.
GWS GIANTS: J.Peatling 8, N.Madden 7, H.Rowston 5, N.Haynes, X.O’Halloran 4, W.Derksen, J.Leake, C.Stone C.Ward 3, A.Cadman, J.Fahey, M.Gruzewski, M.Sheather 2, R.Hebron, L.Smith 1. Total: 50.
North Melbourne: J.Watkins 10, H.Greenwood, C.Lazzaro 7, C.McKercher 5, F.Maley 3, S.Lowson, T.Sellers 2, C.Downie, Z.Duursma, R.Hansen, L.Shiels, J.Stephenson 1. Total: 41.
Northern Bullants: P.Fairlie, J.Velissaris 9, S.El-Hawli 5 (plus 2 for Essendon), J.Jorgensen 2, W.Elliott 1. Total: 26.
Port Melbourne: B.Gowers 16, H.Hooper 15, F.Flockart 6, A.Anastasio, T.Hofert, R.McComb, J.Miller 2, A.Manton 1. Total: 46.
Richmond: L.Wilson 8, S.Davidson, S.Naismith, L.Street 5, S.Banks, J.Garner, S.Green, T.Sonsie 3, T.Dow, C.Harris, O.Hayes-Brown, S.Ryan 2, J.Blight, M.El Nour, C.Gray, A.May, K.McAuliffe 1. Total: 48.
Sandringham: T.Campbell 13, Z.Jones 11, H.Garcia 8, M.Allison, M.Phillipou, S.Ross 4, D.Hipwell 3, M.Heath, T.Membrey 2, H.Clark, L.Collard, J.Hayes 1. Total: 54.
Southport: B.Woodcock 20, B.Crossley 16, J.Dawson 15, J.Heron 8, H.Dixon 7, B.Jepson 5, W.Buzza, K.Gray, W.Sexton 1. Total: 74.
Sydney: P.Ladhams 10, A.Sheldrick 9, A.Francis, J.Hamling, L.Parker, Corey Warner 5, C.Cleary, C.Mitchll 4, B.Edwards 3, M.Lloyd, J.Magor 2, W.Green 1. Total: 55.
Werribee: D.Brew 31 (winner), H.Garoni 11, J.Henderson, J.Riding 8, R.Bice 5, A.Johnson 4, K.Declase, L.Pinnuck 3, S.Conway, N.Coughln, J.Dahlhaus 2, N.Hayes 1. Total: 80.