EFNL 2025: Dane Swan commits to Oakleigh District for rest of Eastern Division 3 season

How’s this for a mid-year signing? One suburban club has snared five-time All Australian Dane Swan for the remainder of the season, in a huge boost to its finals hopes. Latest here.

EFNL 2025: Dane Swan in action for Oakleigh District. Picture: Thomas Facey Photography

It’s official.

Oakleigh District has snared AFL great Dane Swan for the rest of the season.

The Brownlow medallist, whose post-AFL career has taken him from Melbourne’s bayside to Australia’s top-end in a bevy of one-off appearances at local clubs near, far and wide, laced up for the Oaks on June 14.

Gathering some 40 touches and two goals in the 123-point rout of Silvan, Swan, now 41, hinted at the prospect of finishing the season in the black and white.

“You might see me back here in the back half of the year,” he quipped in a post-match radio interview with the Eastern league.

Senior playing-coach Blake Pearson told this masthead last month he was hoping for as much: “I think that’s the plan for the back end of the year at this stage … if we can get him for the remainder of the season, that would be a fantastic addition for us.”

On Tuesday morning, the Eastern league Division 3 club confirmed the landmark signing.

Pearson said it was a timely inclusion with the Oaks sitting two games and percentage out of the top five in seventh with six home-and-away rounds remaining.

EFNL 2025: Dane Swan had 40 touches and two goals for the Oaks a fortnight ago. Picture: Thomas Facey Photography

“We don’t really have any margins for error in the run home so to add someone like Dane Swan is going to be huge for us to make a push for finals,” he told this masthead on Tuesday morning.

“We still wanted to be in a position where we could play finals, in principle there was always that thought process that he was going to be playing for us.”

Pearson said Swan had a profound impact on the group in his cameo a fortnight ago.

The five-time All Australian is great mates with Oaks’ ball magnet Luke Potts, with the pair previously playing together at St Kilda City.

“If you look at our last couple of weeks in comparison to the Silvan game, everyone walked a bit taller and there’s a bit more confidence in the way you go about your football, because you know you’re running out with Dane Swan,” Pearson said.