Revealed: How Suns coach Dew made the AFL big time

In a new series revealing the big breaks in the career of Gold Coast’s leading athletes, we start with the Suns’ coach.

A BUTTON-UP shirt and tie was the regular daily uniform for Stuart Dew who went from working for the Police Credit Union to a two-time premiership player in the AFL.

The story behind Dew’s ascension to the Port Adelaide ranks is as unique as they come.

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The now 40-year-old Gold Coast Suns senior coach left school at the end of Year 11 in 1995 knowing he was bound to join Port Adelaide who had been given the power to sign one 17-year-old from around Australia as part of their creation leading into their inaugural year in the AFL in 1997.

Stuart Dew in 1998.

“I had a fair idea that I’d be taken because I knew who the head recruiting guy, Alan Stewart, who used to coach Central Districts where I played.

“Maybe he was a little bit biased.

“He told me a fair way out that I was going to be it.”

I was working at that point at the police credit union. I was in the real world.”

Dew said he entered the work force after leaving school, working in the backrooms for the Police Credit Union.

“ I was back room staff, there were few people,” Dew said.

“We had access to all the files. It was before the technology we have now so a lot of it was still physical files.

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Suns head coach Stuart Dew. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

“They would ring us and say loans or credit department or transactions and ask for the information and we would get it and take it to them.

“We were the conduit between each department, myself and another guy.

“We had to wear a shirt and tie so I went from wearing a school uniform to that.

“It was interesting. I kept working there for a little bit once I was drafted but we used to have to do weights at 5am and then go to work and then go back and train at 5pm. It was a long day.

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“I’d work from about 8.30am to 3pm and got special leave to be able to go to training at Central Districts SANFL team.”

Dew won an AFL premiership with Port Adelaide in 2004 before retiring at the end of

2006.

It didn’t last long with Dew signing with Hawthorn in 2008 and winning a flag that same year.

Dew’s gap year in 2007 included a cushy stint with Port Adelaide’s marketing team.

“They had a corporate box and I’d host it on game day when they had home games,” Dew said.

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“During the week I’d do a few speaking engagements and I also did a fishing trip up to Exmouth (in Western Australia) for a week where I swam with whale sharks with some corporate people. .

“We would also come up to the Gold Coast for a golf trip with Gavin Wanganeen.

“We brought about 20 people up to play and I was terrible at golf. I also did radio, doing special comments for the Crows games.”