By Brogan's own admission, he was a "bit of a punk back then" and he thought that coming out of the AIS he would walk into the 36ers starting line up. However, Adelaide had both Perth Wildcats1995 championship player Martin Cattalini as well as club legend Mark Davis in front of him for the Power forward position. That and, again by his own admission, that he was a poor shooter of the ball, meant he was used as a bench / development player by Phil Smyth in his rookie NBL season.
Brogan was part of the 36ers team that won the 1998 NBL championship over the South East Melbourne Magic with a 2–0 clean sweep of the Grand Final series. Brogan didn't get on the court in Adelaide's 100–93 home win at the Powerhouse, and was only subbed on late in Game 2 at the National Tennis Centre with the 36ers holding an unbeatable lead. Within moments of coming on, Brogan was fouled and described his two free throws as "almost air balled" (teammate Rupert Sapwell later jokingly asked "what differentiates that from any other game?"). However, after missing his second shot, he then hustled back on defence and took a charge from the Magic's Frank Drmic causing a turnover and giving the ball straight back to the 36ers. Adelaide won the game over the Magic (who were the minor premiers with an imposing 28–6 record) 90-62 for their second NBL title.
Newcastle Falcons
With Cattalini and Davis still with the 36ers for the 1998–99 NBL season, plus the addition of centre/forwardDavid Stiff to the squad, Brogan felt his chances of breaking into the Adelaide starting line up were limited and he moved to play for the struggling Newcastle Falcons after the 36ers 1998 championship win. Ironically by leaving Adelaide he missed out on the 36ers back-to-back championships as his former team also won the 1998–99 NBL championship..
Following his season with the Falcons, at the age of 20, Brogan decided to give up basketball to focus on Australian rules football. His former 36ers teammates jokingly claimed that Brogan made the correct decision to concentrate on football with Martin Cattalini saying on the 1990s club DVD entitled "Title Town" that "He made the absolute right decision to play football. As a basketball player he made a very good footballer but as a footballer he made a shit basketball player.".[3]
Dean Brogan played 43 NBL games, 17 with Adelaide and 26 with Newcastle.
AFL career
Port Adelaide (2000–2011)
Following his season with the Newcastle Falcons, Brogan was introduced to Port Adelaide Football Club head coach Mark Williams by his former 36ers coach Phil Smyth who happened to live on the same street as Williams in Adelaide. From there, Brogan trained with Port Adelaide and impressed Williams enough to be rookie drafted by the club in 1999. He spent the 2000 season playing for South Adelaide in the SANFL, attempting to transition his skills from basketball to football and a year later made his AFL debut in 2001. Under coach Mark Williams the Power became just that in the AFL and qualified for their first ever AFL Grand Final in 2004 where they defeated three-time defending champions the Brisbane Lions to win the 2004 Premiership in front of 77,671 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the team's starting ruckman Brogan became the first sportsman to win national titles in both the NBL and AFL.
With the recurrent injuries and subsequent retirement of Matthew Primus between 2003 and 2005, Brogan's fine work in tandem with fellow Power and 2006 and 2007 All-Australian ruckman Brendon Lade continued to form an integral part of Port's hopes in the 2009 season before Lade's retirement at season's end. Brogan went on to win the Showdown medal in Round 6, 2009 for his best on ground effort against the Adelaide Crows in Showdown XXVI.[4] He was named as vice-captain of the club in the lead up to the 2010 season.
Greater Western Sydney (2012)
In June 2011, at the age of 32, Brogan announced his retirement from AFL football at the conclusion of the 2011 season. However, he later decided against retirement and was traded to the new expansion Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Off field controversies
In 2006, Brogan was involved in an incident at Adelaide airport in which he punched Adelaide Crows fan Dale Mortimer after being insulted, breaking Mortimer's nose.[5] He pleaded guilty and was fined $750.[6]
In July 2007, Brogan pleaded guilty to assaulting an Adelaide surgeon in October 2005,[7] and was fined $1000.[8]
