Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Key Facts

Full name
Jack Garden

Known as
Jack Garden

Born
3 March 1895

Died
1 December 1955 (aged 60)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 20y 136d
Last game: 31y 213d

Height and weight
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 70 kg

Senior clubs
Essendon

Jumper numbers
Essendon: 15, 28

Jack Garden

Club
League
Career span
Games
Goals
Avg
Win %
AKI
AHB
AMK
BV
EssendonV/AFL1915, 1920-1926116420.3654%0
Total1915, 1920-1926116420.3654%0

AFL: 2,204th player to appear, 2,040th most games played, 2,357th most goals kickedEssendon: 277th player to appear, 139th most games played, 202nd most goals kicked

One of many players to lose what would probably have been his best years to war service, Jack Garden played briefly for Essendon in 1915 before spending the next three years at the front in Flanders. He resumed in the VFL in 1920, and promptly won the Same Old's best and fairest award.

Short at just 170cm, and somewhat squat in build, Garden nevertheless had lightning acceleration and was ideally suited to the wing, which was where he played for most of his senior career. Between 1921-3 he was a regular Big V representative, and in the last of those years he starred for the Dons in their 17-point Challenge Final defeat of Fitzroy. He was similarly prominent the following year as Essendon went 'back to back' by winning the VFL's experimental 'round robin' finals series¹.

At the end of the 1926 season, after 115 VFL games and aged thirty-one, Garden left Essendon and joined Victorian Sub-District Football Association side Kew where, as captain-coach, he enjoyed immediate success, steering the side to the 1927 flag.

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

  1. Despite a last round loss to Richmond, the Dons, courtesy of comfortable wins over Fitzroy and South Melbourne in their earlier matches, won the 1924 flag on percentage. The format itself did not prove popular, however, and was immediately dispensed with.

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.