DERMOTT Brereton always stood out on the field.
Sure, he was a prolific goalscorer for Hawthorn and was as tough as anyone when it came to the physical contest of AFL, but it was more than that. Everyone knew Dermott because of his luscious blonde locks.
The colour in those curls was brighter than the gold of the Hawthorn guernsey, and he had one of the great mullets of Australian sport in the 1980s.
But how did he get his hair colour just as he wanted? Why, with a household laundry product, of course.
“I just got a cup of Omo (washing detergent) at home and used to put it in once every now and then, bloody oath I did,” he said on SEN radio on Saturday.
“Yeah it went white, orange and all that — I had fun with it.”
He would never have boasted the famous hairstyle if his first coach at Hawthorn Allan Jeans had his way. When Brereton was still a teenager making a name for himself in the AFL world, Jeans had a couple of pieces of advice on how to make it on the big stage.
“The first time he saw me playing in the under-19s and reserves he said, ‘Son, you’re going alright, I want to see you keep applying yourself,’” Brereton said.
“‘A couple of things I want you to do every time regardless of where you are and what you’re doing on the ground — explode.
“‘Learn to use your pace. If you can do that and get a haircut you’ll be a real show.’
“That’s true. He told me to get a haircut.”
Once Brereton had established himself as a regular at Hawthorn, he felt more comfortable to express himself via his hairstyle. Given the nature of uniformity encouraged at professional football clubs, he said it was important players still felt they could be themselves and reflect their own personality.
“After my second full year I thought I can adorn the haircut of a much more accomplished player so I went down that path,” said Brereton.
“It’s your mane, it’s your signature.
“There’s not much you can change — you can change the colour of your boots and God damn I gave that a run as well.
“You’re in a uniform, you’ve got to be the same as everybody else so you can do anything you like but don’t be boring with your hair.”
Now a commentator on Fox Sports, the 51-year-old took many by surprise by debuting a much shorter hairdo after a visit to the barber earlier in the week, while his locks seemed to lack their usual blonde lustre.
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