Brooke played representative rugby for Auckland, and made his All Blacks debut in June 1992 against Ireland.
Brooke was selected as one of the "Five promising players" from the 1987 season, in the 1988 Rugby Almanack of New Zealand and as one of the “Five players of the year” for the 1995 season, in the 1996 Rugby Almanack.
He played 69 games for the New Zealand national rugby union team, 62 of them tests, and scored 4 tries, all in tests. Brooke captained the Blues in the Super 12 of 2000 and 2001 and was in the AucklandNPC sides in those two seasons before retiring at the end of the 2001 season.
As of 2010[update] he owned a New World supermarket in Warkworth, New Zealand.
In 2010, Brooke made a televised apology for allegedly groping a 15-year-old girl and grabbing her male friend by the throat whilst on holiday in Fiji. As part of a settlement he also made a contribution to charity and agreed to attend alcohol counselling.[1]