AFL: Collingwood star Dane Swan decides to retire

UPDATE: COLLINGWOOD champion Dane Swan has announced his retirement after admitting he couldn’t trust his injured foot to hold up into a sixteenth AFL season.

Dane Swan has played his last AFL game. Picture: Michael Klein

COLLINGWOOD champion Dane Swan has announced his retirement after admitting he couldn’t trust his injured foot to hold up into a sixteenth AFL season.

The Magpies superstar confirmed the news in a letter to members this morning before the club held a media event to celebrate his career featuring Swan, president Eddie McGuire, former coach Mick Malthouse, coach Nathan Buckley and his father, Billy Swan.

REPLAY SWAN’S FAREWELL PRESS CONFERENCE IN THE VIDEO ABOVE

Swan said he came to the decision to retire “two or three weeks ago” despite his heart telling him to play on.

In the end the superstar midfielder knew he couldn’t go on after the horrific broken leg and foot he suffered in Round 1 this year.

“Two or three weeks ago I thought it was probably time,” he said. “I just couldn’t trust my foot to go around anymore.

“I was trying to fight the decision in my head. I’ve probably known for a while that I didn’t think I could play but going down and watching the boys I’d like to get back out there.

“I was probably trying to push that decision in my head. In my heart I wanted to go on but my head knew that I couldn’t go on.

“I spoke to Bucks a couple of times and he sort of said deep down you’ll know.

“It was right in my gut that I needed to go.

Dane Swan celebrates one of the 211 goals of his career. Picture: Tim Carrafa

“It feels like if I kicked a footy my foot would smash into 1000 pieces.

“Thankfully I probably got the best out of myself. Did I look after myself as well as some of the others? Probably not but I think I got the best out of my career and the best out of my life in these last 15 years.

“I’ve been lucky I’ve had the best of both worlds — do what I want off the field and play some decent footy on it as well.”

Swan paid tribute to premiership teammate Ben Johnson, who he said helped him realise the hard work it takes to play AFL football.

It’s well documented the star midfielder was on the outs at Collingwood, with then-coach Malthouse giving him one more chance to continue his career.

“There’s no doubt without that I was gone. I had no idea how hard it was to be an AFL player. I can’t thank them (Johnson and his mates) enough,” he said.

Off into the sunset.
Thank you, Swanny.
You'll always be one of us.#swansong pic.twitter.com/4E6NNVHZeM

— #swansong (@CollingwoodFC) August 23, 2016

“They showed me and they forced me to work because they cared about me too as a person and thought I could play.”

Buckley lauded the star midfielder’s work ethic despite his carefree persona and involvement in the well-publicised “ratpack”.

“There was raw talent, clearly but there was a particular off-season when he started training with ‘Johnno’ (Ben Johnson) and it was either going to go one way or the other,” Buckley recalled.

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“He just decided ... he had a couple of really good mates to push each other along and it really was the impetus that started the success of that late 2000s and ultimately the flag (in 2010).

“That was Swanny just deciding he wanted to make the most of this along with Johnno and a couple of others and they trained over the off-season and came back in really good shape and his game started building from there.

“One thing that Swanny does do and really took from that was he wouldn’t want to tell anyone that ... he worked as hard as he actually did throughout his career. He wouldn’t want to give the impression he actually cared or tried.

“But that’s in fact what we saw internally and if he wasn’t doing it out on the track he’d be building himself on the treadmill and doing his six 500s, which was his staple.

“And doing it at a pace that no one else would be able to keep up with.”

Swan turned his career around and went on to becoming one of the game’s all-time great midfielders.

He was part of Collingwood’s 2010 premiership team, won the Brownlow Medal in 2011, won three Collingwood best and fairest awards and been named All-Australian five times.

McGuire said there’s no doubt Swan has earned his place in the history of the football club alongside names including Gordon Coventry, Peter McKenna and Tony Shaw.

“One of the greatest players in the history of the Collingwood Football Club,” McGuire said.

“He’s the player of his generation.

Dane Swan celebrates winning the 2010 premiership.

“He personified everything that we love about and hold true to the Collingwood ethos.

“He was a bit of a lad who worked harder than anyone, who made the most of his abilities and in the big games he stood up.

“He stood side by side with his teammates, he looked with the supporters, never down on them, he went to the hospitals always looking after the kids. If anyone was having a hard day, Swanny was always in their corner.

“He’s everything we could have ever hoped for.

“He might be leaving Collingwood as a player but he’ll never leave Collingwood. He’s Collingwood DNA and his family’s DNA is intertwined with that.”

Swan’s former coach Malthouse said Swan has always had pride in his performance, which is why he was able to work hard and become one of the game’s elite midfielders.

“There’s a lot said about Dane and his demeanour but I don’t think there’s too many blokes that would have the pride he’s got. He’s got pride in his performance,” he said.

“And he’s got great admiration for his teammates, he loved his teammates. I think you’re halfway home in life if you’ve got a good band of friends around you and Swanny had that.

“He wanted to be better, he wanted to be tested and as a consequence, we know how good he’s been.”

Malthouse recalled what stood out about Swan in his draft year.

“When we looked at Dane, one of the things that was so evident was the volume of football he got,” he said.

“One of the things that amazed me about his football — when he played, he played a bit in the seconds and then he’d come and play seniors but particularly in the seconds he’d end up in the goalsquare kicking a goal.

“I said this bloke has great running capabilities so we’ll start to add that into the senior side.

“He would find himself always forward of the football or with the football, so it was a no brainer to put him in the middle.”

His father Billy, a gun footballer in his own right, paid tribute to the dedication of his son to his career.

“It’s a testament to Dane, he just improved every year,” he said. “He just got that little bit better.”

Swan announced his retirement in a letter to members, declaring “the end has arrived” as he revealed the painful reality of the horrific broken leg and foot he suffered in the opening five minutes of the Round 1 clash against Sydney.

“I once said that Collingwood couldn’t get rid of me. I joked about being an indestructible pest, a cockroach, capable of surviving anything life or the game could throw at me,” he said.

“Playing football, for Collingwood, was fun and fun, as some of you may have gathered over the years, is a powerful motivation of mine,” he said.

“The truth, of course, is that I am not indestructible and with a surgically repaired foot that aches with every step, I have played my last game. The end has arrived.”

The Brownlow Medallist paid tribute to the football club he played his entire AFL career at, in an emotional thank you to the members and supporters that have followed his career.

“But in retirement there is still something very true in what I said about staying at Collingwood,” he said.

“It is the place that, in football terms, I have called home for the last 15 years, somewhere I will always feel I belong. That I can return to.

Dane Swan has been a champion player for Collingwood and for the AFL. Picture: Michael Klein

“In a way, I will never leave Collingwood because I know Collingwood will never leave me.

“You should know that whatever I was able to give back, whatever my career amounted to, I will always owe Collingwood.

“I wore the black and white stripes with pride, always feeling that you were equally proud top see me waddle out in number 36. We were good together.”

Swan played 258 games for Collingwood, with former coach Mick Malthouse expected to be among those to be present at his press conference and pay tribute to the Brownlow Medallist.

Past players, current teammates and family will also be in attendance.

Swan to is set to be compensated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the foot injury that has forced his exit.

It’s understood Swan will be eligible for a payout of about $400,000.

The compensation clause, part of the AFL-AFL Players’ Association collective bargaining agreement, allows players who suffer new career-ending injuries access to 50 per cent of their base salary in the last year of their contract.

Players have to prove their retirement came from an injury that was not from a pre-existing condition, which Swan should have little trouble in doing.

The Brownlow medallist broke three bones — including a fracture of his Lisfranc — in the opening minutes of Collingwood’s Round 1 clash with Sydney.

Swan, 32, was taken at pick No. 58 in the 2001 national draft and became one of Collingwood’s most decorated and loved players.