sexton was a centreman and started his career in 1925 with glenelg. in 1930, he crossed to west adelaide after a dispute over his salary. he won a magarey medal in 1931 and in the following season, he moved to victoria and joined fitzroy. he captained fitzroy in 1932 and 1933 and played a total of 29 vfl games before returning to south australia in 1935. now playing with norwood as captain-coach, sexton starting suffering from pleurisy and was forced to resign just six games into the season. he finished with a total of 101 senior games and in october that year, he died from his illness.