Q: Congratulations Rob on being named in the O and M Team of the Century (1893-1992).

A: Thanks for that, but it's a shock, I'm flabbergasted. There's been so many good players in the league, I know just at Rovers, in the 1960s and 70s, they were legends. Getting Bob Rose (Collingwood star in 1956), that's the equal of getting Nathan Buckley (in his heyday).

Q: You played from the late 1980s to 2003, who were some of the best players in that era?

A: It's so hard when I'm asked this because I'll name five or six players and then you go away and think, 'I can't believe I missed those other 10'. It's like naming your favourite child, it's so disrespectful I reckon sometimes to other players.

Q: You have such a high standing in the league and deservedly so, I've always felt O and M people almost take offence that you didn't play AFL, why do you think you didn't?

A: When I started at centre half-forward, I was six-foot one (inch), and you can get away with it here, but you couldn't at that next level. Then when I was in the midfield, I wasn't quick enough. If I was going to be picked up, it would have been in the early 1990s, it was really difficult, I had a full-time job back in 'Wang', my (future wife) was doing the same, we had a really successful team so you can make lots of excuses, but the guys that played at that (elite) level, they are genuine superstars. I wasn't big enough to play forward or quick enough to play midfield.

Q: Any regrets about not playing AFL?

A: You regret that you didn't put the same time into it when you came back to Rovers. When I was in Melbourne, I was coming home most weekends after games (at North Melbourne) and probably didn't apply myself as well as I could have and at that level, unless you are just genuinely gifted, you have to be so ferocious, it's unforgiving.

Q: It's interesting you say that about your preparation because, at O and M level, you were known as one of the most professional players.

A: I played under 19s (at North) and was successful under (coach Denis) Pagan and then came back to Rovers in 1988 and we won the comp. I knew I had to go back (to North) in 1989 and injured my foot early and then I put on a bit of weight and nobody wanted you after having 12 months off. I came back to Rovers in 1990 and I was underdone, I wasn't fit, I was clearly a stone (around six kilograms) overweight and I was actually a bit embarrassed. People were saying, before I got back in '90, 'he's going to be good, he's going to be good', I was a dud mate (laughs). It was like, 'bloody hell, he's not that good'. So I thought, bugger it, I'm going to see how fit I can get. I got really fit and I just thought, 'this is the secret, the fitter you were, the less you got injured'.

Q: So many successful teams are blessed with a stack of 'competitive beasts', players who are just as hard at training as they are in a game, was that the case at Rovers?

A: It was a really competitive environment and the more successful you are, the more you want to do it. We had someone like Peter Tossol, who'd just come out of the elite system and knew just how competitive and ferocious you had to be. My best mate, Craig Fruend, we'd be so competitive, I can still remember to this day, it was as competitive as games, it was dog-eat-dog, but it wasn't just us, it was everyone. We had enough older guys to say once you're off the ground, you're back to civilisation (laughs).

Q: It must have been sad to see a winless wooden spoon last year, but the arrival of coach Daryn Cresswell has the joint jumping.

A: 'Crezza' is exactly what they wanted coming from outside with new ideas and high expectations. I get down to training a bit and there's some blokes I didn't recognise. Like, I'd be thinking, 'who's that bloke, he's a new bloke and then I'd be told 'no, he's just lost a stone in weight'. 'Crezza's' just installed that.