 When he was eight, the family moved to Western Australia and he commenced his football career in 1904 playing in the Perth “first rate junior” league with Claremont (not the current WAFL club) before joining North Fremantle Football Club at the start of the 1905 WAFL season.After two years with North Fremantle he joined Mines Rovers in the Goldfields Football Association where he established himself as a leading player over four seasons with the club.He returned to North Fremantle in 1911 and played for two years before Fitzroy lured him back to Victoria.