{xtypo_dropcap}T{/xtypo_dropcap}he1976 season marked the end of an era at West Perth, when legend Bill Dempsey retired, followed a year later by another one in Mel Whinnen. The departure of Dempsey was made even more painful when co ruckman Norm Knell also hung up the boots. The side that had ruled supreme with a hundred plus points winning margin in the 1975 grand final over South Fremantle and lost the first semi final of 1976 to Perth had suddenly lost some big guns.

A twenty two year old six foot four ruckman playing with West Australian Football Association club Osborne Park was given the onerous task of stepping into the boots of the champion. Ben Jager had also attracted the attention of East Fremantle in only his second season of metropolitan senior football when runner-up in the Association fairest and best. 

Jager hadn't played a lot of football when he arrived at Leederville.

A  junior at Palmyra, where his team mates in the under twelves included Glen Durnthaler and Mick Jez, who both went on to play with East Fremantle, and South Fremantle's Joe McKay, he quit the game after an injury incurred in the under fourteens. At sixteen he had a run with John Curtin High, before going crayfishing, and enjoying a social game with Dandaragan.{xtypo_quote_left}I can understand the reasons for moving to Joondalup, but Leederville was close to my heart. It hurts to walk into the old rooms and see the wrong colours. I cherish my time in the game for the friends I have made from it.{/xtypo_quote_left}     

He was shot straight into West Perth's league side for the opener in 1977 with another debutant, John Duckworth, and copped a baptism of fire. “It was against East Perth, and Ian McCulloch gave me a warm welcome,” he recalled. It was to be the first of many physical clashes between the two over the ensuing seasons, but in that one the Cardinals prevailed by nineteen points. The real test came in round three, when the rookie ruckman inadvertently collided with South Fremantle tough man, Basil Campbell. “In those days if you went off you stayed off, and Basil was out to it, but they propped him up in a forward pocket,” Ben said. “It came as no surprise when he cleaned me up on a couple of occasions over the remainder of proceedings.” South won the hard fought clash by three points.   

The talented Jager made up for a lack of height with his physical presence. He was a hardworking ruckman, who would work out ways to combat his talented opponents(there were plenty of class big men running around at the time), and his combination with rovers Les Fong and Corey Bewick was exemplary. “We could get away with a bit more in those days,” he recalled. “Jumping early, into the opposition's body, pushing them off the ball, were tactics employed against the top tap men of the day.”

He recalled an Escort Cup match in Adelaide between West Perth and Port Adelaide, when both sides trained on the same ground the night before the game. “Port were out there, resplendent in their training gear, looking a million dollars, while we were having strife locating anything at all. The sight of Ronny Wilson ambling around the half forward flank wearing a pair of Polly's old shorts and no sox suffered in comparison.” 

Jager played a hundred and thirty five games with West Perth in a seven season span. During that time West Perth had a lean period, the 1977 finals campaign not being repeated until 1982, when they started with a bang, dispatching East Perth in the first semi by sixty eight points but went out with a whimper against Claremont in the preliminary final.

He pays tribute to a sacked coach and a legend. “Percy Johnson taught me a lot about ruckwork, and Bill Dempsey, not being over tall himself, shared his wealth of knowledge and experience. I remember an incident with Percy in a pre match warm up, when I whacked him on the snozzle with my elbow, breaking his nose and sending blood everywhere. It was the only time Perce has been known to be speechless and he complained that it was the only time his nose had been broken in all his days of playing football.” 

Relatively injury free over his first few years, apart from a final in 1977 with a hamstring,  the advent of the eighties saw the tide turn, and a shoulder injury incurred during the pre season of 1980 coupled with a knee problem a couple of years later saw him retire at the end of the 1983 season, at the age of twenty nine.

Stephen Michael got Ben's nomination for hardest to beat, while he tossed up between two great players for best team mates. “Peter Menaglio had unbelievable skills, and John Duckworth was an inspirational player.”

A rail engineer with Calibre Rail, who consult for many leading firms worldwide, including BHP and Rio Tinto, Jager is still a busy man but enjoys a fishing rod in his hands whenever the chance prevails. He enjoys time with wife Vicki and daughters Shaye and Brooke and their families, with little opportunity to get to the game these days.  “I can understand the reasons for moving to Joondalup, but Leederville was close to my heart. It hurts to walk into the old rooms and see the wrong colours. I cherish my time in the game for the friends I have made from it.”       

Ben Jager was a player who grasped an opportunity to play league football and gave his club great service over a period of seven seasons. He played against some of the greatest ruckman of the game, including Michael, Moss, Ironmonger, Boucher, Rosbender, Alexander, and Fitzpatrick, and competed well against them all. His teaming with Les Fong was one of West Perth's best ruck/rover combinations, and he is a favourite among the red and blue fraternity.