Rod Brown

NSL Career: Marconi, APIA, Newcastle Breakers, Brisbane Strikers 347 (136) / 1983 - 1997/98

Socceroos Career: 2 (0) A Internationals / 5 (0) B Internationals

The bustling forward was one of the NSL's most prolific goal scorers early in his career and later on used his experience to help Brisbane achieve long-awaited success before finishing his career as the league's all-time goal scorer (record broken only by Damian Mori).

An East Bankstown junior, Brown earned a scholarship to the AIS Soccer Program in 1982 before signing for NSL club Marconi. Brown made his NSL debut at the age of 19 in the 1983 season and quickly became a regular in the side, scoring 10 league goals in his debut season to claim the club's top scorer award.

Les Scheinflug took over as Marconi coach for the 1984 season and signed Newcastle KB striker David Lowe to partner Brown and Mark Jankovics in attack. The trio combined with 41 league goals, with Brown scoring 16 to top the club's goal scoring charts once again and finished third in the NSL Golden Boot standings.

Marconi reached the Northern Conference Minor Semi-Final where Brown scored the side's first equalising goal in the extra time as the match ended in a three-all draw, but missed Marconi's sixth penalty in a shoot-out which allowed APIA defender Mark Pullen to step up and seal Marconi's fate.

The club moved one step closer to a NSL Grand Final appearance in 1985, reaching the Northern Conference Grand Final after Brown scored in their qualifying final and minor semi-final matches. Marconi lost two-nil to Sydney City as Brown finished another season as one of the league's top marksmen, finishing runner-up to Mark Jankovics as Marconi top scorer with 13 goals in 24 league games.

Brown's ability to find the back of the net, although at times inconsistently, earned him a Socceroos call-up in 1985 where he played in B internationals against Tottenham, Udinese, Vasco da Gama and Red Star Belgrade. Brown spent one more season at Marconi where he won his third club top scorer award and helped the side reach the Northern Conference Minor Semi-Final. After scoring 49 goals in 99 league appearances for Marconi, Brown joined APIA for the 1987 season.

Scoring 14 goals in 23 league games during the season, Brown made his full international debut against New Zealand in the Trans-Tasman Cup before helping APIA finish top of the league - winning the last NSL Championship decided by the first-past-the-post format.

Brown's next five seasons at APIA were injury-interrupted, scoring just 21 goals in 74 league games, but the striker played in the side's 1988 NSL Cup Final victory over Brunswick. Brown then spent two unsuccessful seasons with Newcastle Breakers, scoring 12 goals in 45 league games before moving to Brisbane Strikers where he found some good form late in his career.

As one of the experienced players in a relatively young squad, Brown became a leader in the side and found the goal scoring touch that had deserted him in the previous few seasons. Brown helped the club qualify for the finals series for the first time in the 1995/96 season after forming a strong attacking partnership with Frank Farina, who returned to Australia to become player-coach of the club.

Brisbane achieved their highest ever finish (second) the following season and progressed to the NSL Grand Final, where they defeated a star-studded Sydney United side in front of a NSL record crowd at home. In the second half, Farina scored the opening goal before Brown slotted the ball past United keeper Zeljko Kalac to seal the championship for Brisbane.

Following the championship season, Brown played on for another season but was unable to help the side gain a spot in the finals series. Brown surpassed John Kosmina as the league's all-time scorer during the season before hanging up his boots at the age of 34. Brown and his son Corey became the second father-son duo to become AIS Scholarship holders after Tim and Matthew Mullen. Corey has gone one to become a talented full-back in the A-League with Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory.