Casserly's Final Lap

On a chilly afternoon in Sydney's west, there's a familiar face driving Blacktown Demons forward into the teeth of a snarling wind cutting through Cook Park like an icy wrecking ball.

He was well-known to fans of Northern Spirit, Marconi and Swedish club AIK Solna for a decade from the mid-90s. Some Socceroo and Olyroo fans would remember him too, but not A-League fans.

Casserly, capped eight times for Australia including during the Terry Venables reign, is plying his trade down in the NSW Premier League - not that you'd know.

It's a league full of proud footballers like Casserly, talented kids eying the big leagues, a few panel beaters and the odd foreigner.

Playing in front of hundreds not thousands, it's an anonymous existence. No A-League marketing campaigns or TV ads here.

It's bloody hard yakka, too. Full-time work plus training three nights a week; days start early and finish late: these guys - including Casserly - do it for the love.

"I've been a footballer all my life. I just love it so much. I love the game, I love being around the boys. I love being fit," Casserly, now 35, tells au.fourfourtwo.com after the Demons took a point off Penrith Nepean United on the weekend.

Casserly debuted in the NSL in 1993. He stayed with Marconi for five seasons where he also represented Australia at the Atlanta Olympics alongside Mark Viduka and Aurelio Vidmar before joining cross-town rivals Northern Spirit in its inaugural 1998 season.

Forty three appearances at North Sydney and a Socceroo debut later, the attacking defender joined the Swedes. Casserly last played for the Socceroos in 2001 against Japan in an OFC versus AFC challenge match in Japan.

Playing alongside current A-League names John Aloisi, Sasho Petrovski, Ange Costanzo and Steve Corica plus Scott Chipperfield, Casserly had his hands full against Koji Nakata and Co in front of 60,000 fans.

"I'll never forget my NSL debut," Casserly recalls. "I was fortunate enough to also play for the Olyroos at the Atlanta Olympics.

"Then getting a contract in Europe and playing three seasons in Sweden. Everyone dreams of that. I even played in the UEFA Cup.

"I've been pretty fortunate. I've ticked off most of the boxes."

Well, most.

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The A-League kicked off in 2005. At 31 Casserly may've just been deemed too old back then. Truth be told, he was still good enough.

In 2003, he'd played 30 times for AIK Solna. It was the third year of a relatively successful Scandinavian stint that saw him make almost 70 appearances for one of Sweden's biggest clubs.

The problem was, Casserly returned to Australia for the final, sad season of the NSL in 2004. His market price crashed as a result. All the big money was being offered to tempt Aussie boys back from overseas.

Locals, like Casserly, were offered shabby deals. Three A-League clubs spoke to him, but the money was a pittance - he was at a fork in the road and slipped through the contract cracks on the path to "new football".

Instead, and with a young family in mind, European ambitions sated and no more Socceroo call ups on the horizon, Casserly took a lucrative full-time job.He resigned himself to playing part-time in the twilight zone of premier league footy with Marconi and, latterly, Blacktown. Put the two together and he was earning more cabbage than what he was offered in the A-League.

And to rise to position of national retail sales manager of a large corporation showed he was capable of being more than just a footballer.

He did the sensible thing and took the opportunity to cement his family's future. Regrets? Maybe a few. Regretfully, A-League fans never saw him.

But it was Terry Venables - Socceroo boss in 1997 and 1998 - who provided some of the most memorable highlights.

"I made my Socceroo debut under Terry and being in some of the training camps with him, I learnt so much. So many little things, gee, where do you start?

"The first day he said, 'practice makes perfect' and we all said, 'Yes Terry'.

"And he said, 'No, practice makes permanent. Doesn't matter how you practise, if you're practising the wrong things it's not going to help'.

"It was never put to us that way.

"At the time I was playing for Marconi and he was the first manager to explain to me about showing players inside where you had help and playing out from the back.

"I'll never forget, the first day we had a practice match and he took my team and Raul Blanco took the other. Terry talked to us about playing out from the back.

"From playing out from the back, he had this movement going with players in, players out, dropping the ball into holes and in three passes we'd go from the edge of our box to the edge of their box time and time again before then knew what'd happened.

"And that was the first session. And he was so respected that everything he said, you just hung on every word."

Right now, though, it's the NSW premier league that showcases his attacking talents. Forget the greying hair, he's still got it. See him while you can.

"With all my commitments now, this is pretty certain to be my final season playing. I'm really playing for the love of it now," he adds.

"And I've got a pretty understanding wife."

Almost a year younger than Sydney FC's Stevie Corica, we'll never know how good Casserly could've been in the A-League.

*Blacktown Demons play Manly United at Gabbie Stadium this Saturday at 7pm.