Collingwood AFL champion Dane Swan gathers 24 possessions in return to footy for EDFL club Westmeadows

DANE Swan has remained tight-lipped about the prospect of playing more games for Westmeadows this season after making his return to his junior club on Saturday.

Dane Swan gets a kick away in heavy traffic. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

DANE Swan has remained tight-lipped about the prospect of playing more games for Westmeadows this season after making his return to his junior club on Saturday.

In front of a bumper crowd of almost 4000 people at Willowbrook Reserve, the 34-year-old gathered 24 possessions, four marks and four clearances in the Tigers’ 40-point loss to Tullamarine, 15.15 (105) to 10.5 (65).

Dane Swan gets a kick away for Westmeadows. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Swan will back up for the club’s Essendon District Football League clash against Oak Park at the same venue on Anzac Day and it is understood Richmond champion and Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin will be in attendance for that fixture.

The ex-Collingwood star almost didn’t make it on to the field due to an insurance issue connected to his payout of around $400,000 for a career-ending foot injury in 2016 under an AFL-linked scheme.

Swan’s insurer informed him he would be breaching the terms of the payout by playing local footy, but he was later cleared by the AFL to play two matches for Westmeadows after originally planning to make 4-10 appearances in 2018.

Dane Swan gathers one of his 24 possessions. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

“I’d love to, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Swan said when asked if he could be seen at suburban level beyond Anzac Day.

“For now, it’s just Anzac Day.

“It was awesome to come down and give something back to a club where it all started for me.

“It looked a bit dicey there at one stage, but thankfully I think commonsense prevailed and they’ve let me come down and do my thing.

“We didn’t get a win, but hopefully the club got a lot out of it and got some good funds.”

Swan, who played his first match for Westmeadows in 18 years, is not being paid by the club and was revealed as its marquee signing 141 days ago.

Tigers president Gareth Hanlon said Swan and his manager Liam Pickering would decide the next steps.

Dane Swan runs out for his first match for Westmeadows in 18 years. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

“He’s put in the pre-season with the boys and he’s only focused on come back and represent the colours that he played for when he started out his career and put back into the community,” Hanlon said.

“From our perspective, we’ve just been blessed to be able to get him today against Tulla and against Oak Park.

“We’ll leave those things for him to decide. We’d love him to play as many games as he can, but with the current state of affairs, it will be up to him what he’s able to do regarding those other issues off the field.”

Dane Swan in action for Westmeadows. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Swan said the match was played in good spirits, quipping his possession tally did not include “many good ones”.

“I was a bit nervous at the start. I didn’t get nervous at all playing AFL, apart from my first game,” the decorated 258-gamer said.

“My first couple of kicks went sideways, but it felt awesome just to be back out playing sport. I haven’t done it since I hurt my foot.

“Just to be able to run around locally and just enjoy footy, you obviously enjoy playing AFL but it’s so intense and everything you do there’s so much pressure.

“There were a couple of words here and there, but it was all in good fun.

“No one was mean and no one came in to try and smash me off the line. Even (Tullamarine’s) crowd were good to me, so I’ve got to thank them for not pasting me all day.

“They were just having a laugh and that’s what local footy is about. I didn’t come down here to get into a punch on or to argue with the crowd, I came down to have a bit of fun and a laugh.”

Swan said the standard of the match exceeded his expectations and conceded he was “Caught out a couple of times” adjusting to the ball movement at a lower level.

Dane Swan is put under pressure. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Ryan Pretty starred with seven goals for Tullamarine to spoil the Tigers’ party.

While Swan had no trouble accumulating possessions, Demons coach David Connell was pleased with the efforts of his players.

“We had three different plans for him — one when he was playing through the midfield, one when he was deep forward and one when he was high forward,” Connell said.

“But I just said to them that we back our 22. Forget about names and what they’ve done and just play your role.

“I don’t think he had a huge influence on the game.”