Australian Football

A rugged and tenacious utility who played the game hard and not always fair, Jack Cassin was a noteworthy identity for many years at Essendon, despite sacrificing much of his potential football life to his service with the RAAF. He joined the Dons in 1936, a few months short of his twenty-first birthday, having played previously with Wandin and Seville. When he left Essendon to serve as captain-coach of Waranga North East Football Association side Euroa in 1948 he had played a total of 150 VFL games, and kicked 145 goals. He also represented the VFL against South Australia in 1941. Cassin was appointed captain-coach of the Bombers' reserves team in 1947, and spent the majority of the season in that role. However, when the senior side lost a large number of players through injury during the finals series he earned a surprise recall for the Grand Final clash with Carlton. Playing in the first ruck alongside Perc Bushby and Bill Hutchison he performed serviceably, but could not prevent his team from going under to Carlton by the narrowest of margins. Thankfully for Cassin, he had earlier enjoyed premiership success with the Dons in both 1942 and 1946.

A controversial figure at times, Cassin was a renowned 'stirrer' of opposition players, and might be said to have played his football according to the adage 'hit first and ask questions later'. Not surprisingly, this approach sometimes attracted the ire of opposition supporters - on one occasion he was actually attacked on the field by an angry fan - and he was no stranger to the Tribunal either, making a total of eight visits there during his career, and being found guilty three times. After spending the 1948 season with Euroa, Cassin captain-coached Colac in 1949 and 1950, which were the club's first two seasons in the Hampden Football League. His son John Cassin was later a fine league footballer with four different clubs.

Author - John Devaney