Greener, who'd been called up by Crook as an assistant on the Joeys' US tour to replace John Paul de Marigny, says Crook's death came as a complete shock.

"We had only a three day training period to prepare for our first game against the USA but all had been going well," he said.

"The night before that first game after the boys had retired for the night the staff and Martyn shared in a few hands of cards with the normal flow of joking and friendly banter going on before we headed for our own rooms before 11pm.

"The first few hours after finding Martyn the next day was all quite surreal.

"Everything seemed to happen very quickly. I must say the local medical officers, hotel staff, embassy officials and all we came into contact with were brilliant in the way they handled the situation."

He added: "I cannot praise FFA enough also for their support to us at the time.

"John Boultbee came immediately from Europe whilst Simon Roberts was on a plane within hours of the news and their prescence not only showed a great degree of support to us but allowed us to focus on the important matter of ensuring the boys were OK.

"We had counsellors to the boys within hours and having taken the collective decision to continue with the tour, the boys were magnificent in their professionalism with regards to representing their country under such trying conditions."

Having had a day to re-group, the team trained on the Saturday morning and put on a first class performance against USA showing great character to draw 3-3.

"We came out so fired up we were 2-0 up after 10 minutes and then came back again after going 2-3 down," said Greener.

"The boys wanted to dedicate the game to Martyn and I am sure he would have been proud of their efforts- I know I certainly was."

The team's next opponent was Brazil. "Facing such a world class team as Brazil under any circumstances is challenging but to have to do it under these conditions was certainly going to be a test the next day.

"Brazil were awesome winning 4-1 but coming in at half time only 1-2 down I again was very proud of the way the players went about their business and impressed with their professionalism.

"However, in the second half Brazil showed their class and ran out worthy winners not only of the game but the tournament. However, sometimes football becomes secondary to other things in life where life itself is the focus.

"I believe the boys all took a step up in their character and life experiences on this tour with maybe their football benefiting from it later on down the line."

Crook represented Australia 14 times between 1979 and 1983. He played 192 games as goalkeeper with West Adelaide in the NSL and was voted goalkeeper of the year in 1978. Crook led the Joeys to become the first Australian team to win an ASEAN title, earlier this year in Jakarta.

"One thing is for sure," added Greener, who'd known Crook for over 15 years, "Australian Football has lost a valuable asset and we have all lost a friend."