Dane Swan set to play for junior club Westmeadows after initial doubts over insurance payout
UPDATE: Collingwood great Dane Swan will play for his junior club, Westmeadows, on Saturday and Anzac Day after eleventh hour talks between the Tigers and AFL.
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WESTMEADOWS Football Club had been granted a temporary reprieve that will allow Dane Swan to make a pair of appearances at his local club.
The football club had been left blindsided and as much as $70,000 out of pocket after he was forced to withdraw from the games.
Swan was revealed as their star signing 140 days ago but on Friday his manager Liam Pickering told him he was ineligible to play.
CONFIRMED | Westmeadows FC will shortly announce that Dane Swan WILL be able to line up tomorrow against Tullamarine in Essendon Ford Division 1. pic.twitter.com/X9uq8pbqZo
— EDFL (@EDFLfooty) April 20, 2018
The Brownlow Medallist accepted around $400,000 for a career-ending foot injury in 2016 under an AFL-linked scheme.
His insurer has officially informed him he would be breaching the terms of the payout by playing local footy.
But local legend and ex-Kangaroos star Corey McKernan refused to take no for an answer, getting clearance from the AFL’s senior figures.
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McKernan told the Herald Sun the league had granted Swan the ability to play in Saturday’s game against Tullamarine and Wednesday’s Anzac Day fixture against Oak Park.
Then it has been made clear his football career at all levels is over, AFL legal guru Andrew Dillon making clear the clearance was for one week only.
Westmeadows has forked out around $20,000 in traffic management fees as much as $50,000 in total, hoping to raise over $100,000.
The financial flow-on could cost the Essendon District Football League club as much as $70,000.
Swan was not going to be paid for the appearances, happy to turn out for his junior club with an attendance of up to 4000 expected on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. To find out at 12.30pm the day before the game, from the moment I found out I rang everyone I conceivably could,’’ McKernan said.
“I think it shows great understanding by the AFL, they get whacked a bit but good on them.
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“It shows they understand the reasons why Dane is doing it. He isn’t getting paid, he just wanted to give something back to the club where he grew up at.”
McKernan, 44 and battling a calf injury, said he was desperate to return to the club to suit up in that Anzac Day game to play with Swan.
It is understood Swan’s grandmother, who lives at a house adjoining the ground, has asked for an early release from a stay in hospital to be at Saturday’s game.
Earlier, Westmeadows coach Grant Smith had been rocked by the late decision, with Swan unaware the insurance concern might be an issue despite warnings from Pickering.
“He is not getting paid. This was never about money. We are a division one club playing our kids and trying to build ourselves up to play in premier division,” Smith said.
“That was the main reason he wanted to get involved. He felt he could contribute on the field with mentoring and if he could generate money for the club to help get us to the next level, that’s what he would do.”
“He never once asked to be paid. That is the disappointing part about it. We are all trying to rebuild the club. People are there putting more money into the club than they are getting paid.
“People have chipped in a fair bit of money to try to get this Anzac Day game up and going. Tomorrow we have already outlaid a fair few expenses.
“People are chipping in their own cash to get things over the line so it’s been an incredible disappointment.”
Swan broke three bones in his foot in 2016, then retired with the career-ending injury rather than play again in 2017.
The AFL has now overhauled the career-ending injury payout system, allowing more players to access the fund but for lesser funds.
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