Australian Football

Boasting plenty of vim together with a penchant for running hard and straight ahead, Ron Jacks was a genuine utility player who could function equally well on a wing, across half back or on the ball. Between 1967 and 1972 he played 103 WANFL games for Subiaco and kicked 15 goals. He then made a perhaps ill-judged move to Footscray where he struggled to make an impression, managing just 11 games for the year. Meanwhile his former team mates at Subi were busy capturing the 1973 flag, the club’s first for 49 years, and one to which Jacks might well have contributed had he opted to remain in Perth. Whether playing half a season in the VFL represents a greater achievement than playing in a WANFL premiership team is a conundrum well worthy of debate. It is also arguably a question about which it is quite impossible to sit on the fence.

Author - John Devaney