Career
A New South Wales state and Australia national representative forward, his club career was played in Sydney with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Newtown Bluebags and Saint George Dragons. Enlisted in World War I at the age of just 16 years, he had the distinction of being the last representative football player to go to the Great War. A South Sydney junior, Root started playing first grade for the Rabbitohs in 1923, becoming a mainstay in the side in 1926.
He was sent off in the 1926 decider against University.
He made his representative debut for New South Wales in 1927 and was regularly selected for the Blues over the next six seasons. He was selected to go on the 1929-1930 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, playing in fifteen tour matches but no Tests.
When the NSWRL changed the South Sydney/Newtown boundary distinction in 1930 Root spent the following season with Newtown Jets due to the strict residential criteria of the time. He then returned to the Rabbitohs and played in the back-to-back premiership-winning Souths sides of 1931 and 1932.
He played with the Dragons for two seasons before retiring.
