Australian Football

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