Australian Football

Evocatively known as ‘Killer’, Les Kaine, not surprisingly, counted extreme, sometimes excessive, physicality high among his footballing attributes. Originally from Coleraine, he made his senior VFL debut with Hawthorn as a nineteen year-old in 1956. He played most of his early football for the Hawks on the forward lines, but it was after being shifted to the defence that he really came into his own.

Kaine’s relentless, straight ahead style was admirably suited to the ‘commando’ ethos which coach John Kennedy sought to instil at the club, and which ultimately bore supreme fruit in the shape of the 1961 VFL premiership, Hawthorn’s first. Playing at full back, ‘Killer’ Kaine was a significant contributor to this success, but the following year his form fell away, and he struggled to keep his place in the side. He left for Castlemaine at the end of the 1962 season having played a total of 103 VFL games and kicked 80 goals.

Author - John Devaney