silver by just 0.02 s. Australia improved on their qualifying time by only 0.68 s, while the Americans sped up by 5.03 s. 1986 Commonwealth Games and retirement from swimming In 1985, Brooks dead-heated with Stockwell in the 100 m freestyle at the Australian Championships, clocking a time of 51.12 s. He then combined with Tom Stachewicz, Paul Lee and Barry Armstrong, as Western Australia won the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay for the first time. Brooks maintained his form and despite not defending his Australian 100 m title, was selected for the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he came second to Fasala in the 100 m freestyle in a time of 51.01 s. He claimed gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay along with Fasala, Stockwell and Matthew Renshaw, anchoring the quartet in setting a Commonwealth Games record. On the return flight from the games, Brooks consumed 46 cans of beer and was banned for six months after he talked about the incident during a television interview. In his memoirs, Talbot, a non-drinker, cited Brooks and his Mean Machine teammates as being one of the biggest proponents of a hard-drinking culture that had permeated the Australian swimming scene at the time. In particular, he singled out Brooks as being a focal point of disruptive activity during his time at the Australian Institute of Sport. Talbot sees alcohol as the main reason behind the collapse of Australia's standing in the swimming world in the 1970s and the subsequent prolonged period of international uncompetitiveness in the 1980s. Brooks retired thereafter, moving to Nambour, Queensland and starting a rock band called The Union. He played the electric guitar, and also wrote his own music and songs. He also represented Western Australia in water polo and indoor cricket and played Australian rules football at district level. Media career Having graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in journalism in 1985, Brooks entered the media after his retirement from swimming. Before his graduation, he had been a cadet with the Seven Network in Perth for five years, and was again hired by Seven and read the sports segment on the weekday evening news. He served as a commentator for Seven's coverage of the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Aside from covering the swimming and water polo, he also commentated on volleyball and in 1998, he called various