How the art of tattoos overtook Jason Castagna’s love of the game
At 26, Jason Castagna had three premierships under his belt and was widely recognised as one of Richmond’s best players, but his head and heart were no longer in the game. Here he tells how an injury spurred him to choose a very different path.
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Triple premiership threat Jason Castagna tore his hamstring during the 2023 pre-season and immediately felt relief.
Unlike most professional footy players – who would be gutted about such an injury, this was the sign that Castagna desperately needed.
At just 26, he was widely recognised as one of Richmond’s best role players with the enviable title of three premierships under his belt.
But the nifty forward, who many predicted had so much more to achieve, had completely fallen out of love with the game.
And it was starting to have a paralysing impact on his mental health.
“Things were just shit and I thought ‘alright I’ve got to do something now’. I was a bit of a sad sack and I didn’t want to be like that anymore,” he recalled.
“My head wasn’t in it and my body wasn’t really in it, so I was actually relieved and pumped that I did my hammy because I thought ‘sweet I don’t need to train anymore, I can just sit in rehab and hide in the background’.
“But then I still had no motivation to rock up.”
The beginning
Growing up, footy was always the goal for Castagna.
He joined a local under-9s team the first chance he could, but it wasn’t until he was about 16 – after making a state team – when he could truly taste AFL success.
“I was always probably one of the better players in my junior teams but I think it wasn’t until a bit later that I thought, oh damn this could actually be a possibility,” he said.
After not being picked up in the 2014 national draft, he put a deposit down for a Schoolies trip with mates.
But those plans were short-lived because one week later, on the morning of Schoolies, he was selected in the rookie draft – alongside Jayden Short, Kane Lambert and Ivan Soldo.
That day he was on a plane to Townsville to begin training – and the start of his career.
He played VFL throughout the next year and made his AFL debut in 2016 – It was a dreary Saturday night against Port Adelaide at the MCG in front of a crowd of about 14,000 people.
“It was the most insignificant game ever,” he laughed.
Finding his feet
Initially a backman, it was in the Tigers’ history-making 2017 season where Castagna truly found his groove as a member of the “mosquito fleet”.
Alongside Dan Butler and Daniel Rioli, he was one of the instrumental three small forwards who were critical to the team’s success thanks to the pressure they put on around the big sticks.
“That’s where I felt like I had cemented a spot in the team,” he reflects.
“Chasing and tackling and putting on pressure worked well for me because I wasn’t the most skilful player.”
But his inaccuracy in front of goal at times often led to unfair criticism, including a barrage of online abuse from social media trolls.
“It didn’t affect me all that much while playing but then I think back at it and maybe it did,” he said.
Grand Final glory
Castagna never dreamt of walking away from the game with three premiership medals to his name.
Being part of, and kicking a goal the team that defeated Adelaide to break Richmond’s 37-year Premiership drought was the “coolest thing ever”.
“It was so sick … It was just the best time,” he said.
During Richmond’s 2019 bloodbath against Greater Western Sydney, Castagna kicked five behinds.
Had he been accurate, many suggested he likely would have claimed the Norm Smith.
Castagna, however, doesn’t reflect on the ‘what ifs’ from that game – or his career more broadly.
“I think I even kicked one out on the full,” he laughed.
“Realistically me kicking five straight, I don’t think that’s ever happened in my career and I don’t know if it ever would if I played another 100 games.
“Anyone that watched Richmond knows that I wasn’t a super accurate goal kicker. I was never the greatest kick. I was always good for some points.”
As he reflected on his career, Castagna almost undersold his achievements.
Between 2017 and 2020, he featured in 92 of a possible 95 matches – the equal most of any Richmond player.
And just he and Tiger cult hero Dustin Martin were the only club men to kick 25 goals or more in each of the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
He summarises his football credentials as a “classic role player”.
“I played a good role for a team and I was lucky enough to be in a good team,” he said.
A more colourful career?
When lockdowns hit and Victoria shut down, Castagna found a different kind of hobby – one that was far removed from the roar of the MCG.
And perhaps this was where he started to lose his love for the game.
He bought a tattoo machine and started tattooing – both himself and willing mates. When the AFL season was taken up to the Gold Coast in 2020, he brought his machine up north to the hub and gave tatts to teammates.
“I gave Dusty a tatt on Grand Final night. Dave Astbury got a few. So did Nick Vlastuin, Jack Ross. Liam Baker, Jack Graham,” he recalled.
Former Richmond coach Damien Hardwick even vowed to get inked.
“He made a bet that if I kicked three straight that year, he’d get a tattoo … I didn’t end up kicking three straight,” he laughed.
It was in this period though where Castagna’s artistic flair started to shine bright, and he felt that he could see a future in tattooing.
Quickly, it was all he could think of.
“Once I found tattooing and saw it as a possible career path, I think that’s what led to me not wanting to play footy anymore. I was so invested and intrigued by this new hobby that I wanted to turn into a job that it kind of overtook my love for footy and helped me exit out,” he said.
The final siren
Just weeks before the 2023 season began, Castagna announced his retirement from professional footy, aged just 26.
His football doubts began during the 2021 season when his love for the game was “definitely wearing off”. By 2022, he wasn’t enjoying it at all.
He hoped the off season would allow him to rejuvenate and shake the feelings by the start of 2023.
It was quickly apparent that wasn’t the case – and his mental health began to take a battering.
“I started getting physical feelings of anxiety about going into the club. I remember thinking this is so foreign and bizarre to me,” he said.
“I noticed I wasn’t happy and it was affecting me.
“I started speaking to a psych and unpacking things and basically realised that I didn’t need to be doing this to myself.
“I just felt like I was rocking up to collect my pay cheque and I thought to myself ‘I’ve got to get out of this now because there’s no point of me hanging around’. It wasn’t going to help the club or me.”
Castagna initially pledged to make it to the halfway point of the 2023 season before calling it quits.
But during a practice game in pre-season, he tore his hamstring – the first time in his eight-year career that he sustained a soft-tissue injury.
“I thought that was so weird in itself. I kind of feel like it was a connection between my mind and body,” he said.
From there, the choice was obvious.
“Once I announced it to the team, it was an immediate relief. I knew it was the right thing, straight away,” he said.
“Maybe I could have done it sooner, but then maybe I wouldn’t have been as 100 per cent sure in my decision.
“It felt like I had not one more training session left in me.”
Life after footy
In the days and weeks after his retirement, Castagna had the option to join his dad and brothers in the steel industry.
He’s glad he didn’t go down that path, however.
“I would’ve been a terrible tradie. I wouldn’t have been handy at that,” he laughed.
It only made sense for him to pursue the thing he had grown to love so much over the years – tattooing.
He’d made an Instagram account – @phat_doodles – to showcase his work, and soon after reached out to a tattoo studio to see if they’d take on a new artist.
Within a few years, he amassed almost 20,000 followers and wait lists that span months.
“There’s definitely a lot of things I’ve learnt from footy that I’ve taken into tattooing and I think it’s helped me. Particularly the hard work,” he said.
And now, he’s preparing for the next chapter in his life – fatherhood.
After a gruelling IVF journey, Castagna and his wife Haley miraculously fell pregnant naturally and they’re now gearing up for their daughter to arrive this month.
“We’re hanging for her now. I’m super pumped to be a dad,” he said.
OFF THE RECORD
First job and pay
Richmond, 60k
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing?
Probably would be a bad tradie
First tattoo?
St Kilda player Dan Butler’s initials inside a table tennis bat. We had a tournament and the loser had to get that tattooed on their bum.
Book everyone should read?
Goosebumps
If you could live anywhere in the world besides here, where would it be?
Netherlands
First concert, dream concert (dead or alive)
First - Falls Festival
Dream - Queen
Most inspirational living person?
Jonathan LaPaglia
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Don’t leave the plug in your laundry sink when you’re doing a load of washing
First car, current car, dream car?
• 2005 ford falcon
• Volkswagen Tiguan
• Batmobile
One thing people didn’t know about you?
I sat next to Jason Segal on a plane flight once
Rainy day TV binge?
Workaholics
Song you get pumped up to?
Never fight a man with a perm - Idles
Death row last meal?
Nandos
Best piece of advice you’ve received?
Put your shoes on before you tie the laces
This year I’m most looking forward to …
Being a dad
The one thing I’d love to change about Victoria/Victorians?
Hook turns
The one thing I love the most about Victoria/Victorians?
Coffee
Originally published as How the art of tattoos overtook Jason Castagna’s love of the game
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