Milestone - Justin Caine 250 Seniors Games - 23/08/2008By Ziggy Arness
A lot of wonderful achievements at this club would be lost on us were it not for the diligence of Trevor Patterson in scrutineering records for upcoming milestones. One that passed with little or no fanfaronade a few weeks ago was Justin Caine’s 250th appearance for the senior club. While only a few dozen of those have been at the top level he nevertheless deserves huge accolades for his persistence and loyalty in a career at Dingley that started with the U13s in 1986. A lot of water has passed under the bridge and, more importantly, a lot of beer has been drunk since then.
My inexperience as an interviewer combined with Justin’s inability to accurately recall events of long ago render a lot of the details sketchy, but he estimates he may have played about 75 junior games here. He was coached by some club notables in Dave Meeve and Barry Culph, and was in the same age group as Chinga, Ringo “Culph” and his best mate Brett Gniel. Those three were also his team-mates in the year that he also played at Sandringham U17s. Must have been a particularly busy season as he played with Sandy on Saturdays, Dingley on Sundays and even fitted in school football with St. Bedes on Wednesdays! He was also able to recall an U15s premiership in the company of Coatesy and Robbie Lemon. For those who have only seen the contemporary version of JC, it may come as a surprise that up until the age of about 22 he was actually tall and skinny. Tall of course he still is, but a long way from his optimum playing weight of about 98 kg.
Known variously as JC or Cainy, he also inherited the moniker of “Rexy” after once doing an after-a-goal impersonation of the bearded burbler. Most of his footy has been played in the guts or as a key forward. His best response came to my question relating to favourite position to which he replied “on top”. I was expecting something more along the lines of Ruck! Speaking of that, best of luck to Juz and his lovely wife upon the impending arrival of their second child.
Justin may be almost as surprised as anybody to have achieved this milestone. Three or four years ago he had actually given it away, but along with other true club faithfuls such as Duca Lee and Kent Waring responded to the call for reinforcements in the dark days of Casey-Cardinia. The result is something like 220 games for the Dingley reserves, the highlight of which he rates last season’s effort in reaching the Grand Final. Similarly, he also ranks losing that game to Springy Districts as his biggest disappointment. Unfortunately his last chance to atone dissipated last Saturday, although not through lack of trying, as Justin was the only player in the whole game to score a major against the howling breeze.
JC will end his playing days here with countless friendships and fond memories of a club he genuinely loves. Apart from his on-field deeds, he has also served on committee a number of times, being particularly instrumental in arranging social events such as AFL Grand Final day at the Sports Club. He has also been an exceptionally fair player, having only been reported once in his entire career. In response to some of my more banal questions, he cited Chinga as his favourite coach and Nick Lynch as the gun player of his time.
Fine mark, good kick, great bloke. One who will be sorely missed but who will have more time to spend with his young family and to concentrate on making his truck brake importing business kick goals.
(Click on a photo to enlarge and scroll.)
Major Sponsors
