AFL star marks with broking career

“I didn’t have any horrific injury or anything like that,” explains the 32-year-old of his decision that took many in the game by surprise. “I just knew that I didn’t have it in me to play at that level anymore. I wanted to be honest with myself and I really didn’t feel comfortable out there anymore.

“The pace of the game is just so quick, I just started to feel out of my depth out there; there were younger guys coming through, hungrier than me and I just thought it was time to move on,” he says of his abrupt decision to hang up the boots.

However, unlike a lot of sportspeople who retire with little clue of what their post-playing days will look like, Mr Cassisi was the opposite. And now, little more than six months after taking his last mark, he’s the managing director of the thriving Adelaide-based brokerage Funding Options.

And far from a nascent business, Funding Options has been operating for two or three years, albeit slightly on the backburner while Mr Cassisi continued with his footy.

Mr Cassisi says he’d always had an interest in finance and property and during his playing days was mentored by two of Port Adelaide’s sponsors at the time – Angelo Benedetti from Oracle Lending Solutions and Anthony Toop from Toop&Toop, one of Adelaide’s top real estate agents.

Along with this mentoring, Mr Cassisi hit the books and got the knowledge that enabled him to establish Funding Options and slip seamlessly into the MD’s chair when he called time on footy.

“We do the full scope,” he says of Funding Options’ suite of services. “We do residential, commercial, plant machinery and motor vehicle; although I’d say our core business at the moment is residential, but the commercial side is definitely catching up to that.” He adds that most of his customer base is from Adelaide with a “few from interstate”.

Mr Cassisi agrees his interest in property was pricked at an early age, ably funded by the large salaries afforded the modern-day AFL player. “Yes, I did start [investing] young. It was something I really enjoyed, I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to transition an interest into a new career.”

So, with all these highly paid footy players, is property investing a hot topic around the footy sheds? “Absolutely,” he says. “All the boys are logging on to realestate.com.au to see what’s around, which suburbs are hot, where the top investors spots are, so, yes, it has become a common topic of conversation around footy clubs, there’s no doubt about it. It’s good fun.”

He says Funding Options has even financed properties for some current Port players. “The boys are aware of what I do and I’m more than happy to assist them and stuff and hopefully I can do some more deals with them,” he says.

Mr Cassisi insists he has no regrets about his early retirement and says going from lifting the premiership trophy in front of 100,000 fans at the MCG to writing residential home loans hasn’t been difficult at all.

“I never really got caught up in all that,” he says of the adulation of fans. “For me footy was just a job that I loved doing and I still have a role in the media here in Adelaide so I’m still involved in the game from that sense. I found playing AFL at the top level very challenging and now I’m finding starting this business, working in it full time, growing the business, restructuring the business, I find that just as fulfilling as well.

“[Post-retirement] I can now give it [the business] my full attention and see how it’s operating on a day-to-day basis; get to know the staff better, the customers. I’ve been so busy with it all there’s no shortage of things to do. The beauty of my footy career – having been captain of the club and having leadership roles – what I learned with that, I think, set me up for the business world.”

Which begs the predictable question – do the skills you learn on a footy field translate to a career as a broker? “You can’t succeed at professional sport unless you have a good work ethic,” he says. “Playing professional sport you’re given and need to learn to accept feedback in the right way, and that applies to business too. Obviously the leadership roles I had playing football makes you very aware of your actions, what you’re doing and reflecting the culture of the place. The other thing from footy was I learned to network and communicate well, and that certainly translates to the business world.”

And does Mr Cassisi’s high profile, particularly in football-mad Adelaide, help or hinder the business? Could fans of Port’s fierce rivals, the Crows, be less inclined to avail the services of Funding Options because of the MD’s sporting past?
“We don’t just do finance for Port fans,” he laughs. “At the end of the day we provide a service and our customers seem to enjoy what we do, they keep coming back, and hopefully they’ll spread the word.

“It’s hard to gauge whether the things I did in footy have helped the business; maybe it might give me a little more credibility, maybe people might feel more familiar with me because they know my past,” he says.

One downside of a football past, Mr Cassisi agrees, is that every business meeting appears to start with the obligatory 30-minute chat about football. Not that he minds, he says with a laugh. “I love talking about footy and, you know, it can break up all that talk about finance. It helps to get the discussion going, build the relationship, so from that end it’s a positive.”
If there has been a challenging aspect to the business, he agrees it’s around the time and effort to get the larger, commercial loans over the line.

Funding Options – through its referral partners – is increasingly working with developers and Mr Cassisi says it’s these loans that require a lot of work and, if not approved, come with little reward.

And the future of the business? “It’s going to be about building partnerships,” he says. “We have this relationship already with [real estate agent] Toop&Toop and our short-term focus is to really strengthen that side and build the relationships with their agents.

“We’re starting to build good relationships with accountants, financial planners, that sort of thing, so it’s all about working to strengthen great relationships, really. We don’t want to deal with anyone and everyone; I think it’s about finding a few very good partners and focusing on them.

But it’s not all just referrals, you have to have a good brand yourself, you have to market yourself as approachable, for anyone wanting finance,” he says.

PROFILE

Name: Domenic Cassisi

Age: 32

Position: Midfield

Debut: 2002

Career games: 228

Goals: 74

Premierships: 1 (2004)

Captain: 2009-2012

Toughest opponent: “Gary Ablett Junior. He’s just the best player to ever play the game.”

Career highlight: “Winning the 2004 premiership.”

Career lowlight: “In 2011 and 2012 we were at the bottom of the ladder and two of our coaches had been given the sack and then on an end of season trip to Las Vegas my teammate John McCarthy tragically passed away and that was definitely the hardest thing to go through – you just never expect that.”