Frederick Thomas James Castledine (2 May 1937 – 20 January 2019) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player who played for the

Swan Districts Football Club The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, Western Australia, ...

in the WAFL throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. His career with Swan Districts commenced in 1958 when the Swans were languishing at the bottom of the league ladder. He is described as a strong and versatile player with good skills and endurance. The club's fortunes rapidly improved with the appointment of Haydn Bunton, Jr. as senior coach at the end of the 1960 season, after Swan Districts had finished at the bottom of the ladder. Castletine was a member of perhaps the greatest team that has played for the club and who won the WAFL premiership flag in 1961, 1962 and 1963. In the 1961

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

against

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

, Castledine played an interesting but important role as a ruck rover. Castledine effectively negated the performance of champion ruckman Graham "Polly" Farmer by engaging in a series of physical engagements that left Keith Slater free to dominate in the ruck contests. In the 1962 Grand Final Castledine also played on the ball as a ruck rover in the victory against

East Fremantle East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. Castledine was moved to the

centre half back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

position for the 1963 Grand Final and played an outstanding game once again so that the Swans were victorious. An important player throughout 1964 Castledine won the Swan Medal for that year. By 1965 Castledine had become the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

of Swan Districts and remained in that position for the 1966 and 1967 seasons. Swan Districts finished as minor premiers by being at the top of the ladder at the end the 1965 season made it as far as the Grand Final in 1965 but lost the game in a third quarter fade out to East Fremantle. A valuable contributor to the team and a great clubman, Fred Castledine played 162 games for Swan Districts from 1958–1969. He also represented the WA state team in 1961–1964 and was selected at centre half back in the Swan Districts team of the century. After retiring from playing, he became a special comments broadcaster, calling football alongside

Dennis Cometti Dennis John Cometti (born 26 March 1949) is an Australian retired sports commentator, player and coach of Australian rules football. In a career spanning 51 years, his smooth voice, dry humour and quick wit became his trademark. Until his retir ...

. Castledine was also a successful horse trainer, owning and training Meliador, a great WA stayer who won the 1979

Perth Cup The Perth Cup is a Perth Racing Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race run under quality handicap conditions over a distance of at Ascot Racecourse in Perth, Western Australia in January, usually on New Year's Day. The total prize money is $1,000,000. ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castledine, Fred Swan Districts Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club coaches 1937 births 2019 deaths Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Australian racehorse trainers Australian rules football commentators