Lewis Melican: Sydney defender’s 10 years as a Swan, injury pain and success

Lewis Melican is finally living up to his potential after a career riddled with injuries. He reflects on 10 years at the Swans and how Sydney kept his love for the game alive during the dark periods during the past decade.

Lewis Melican has proven to be the solid rock in a Sydney defence full of confidence and leading the competition. Picture: Phil Hillyard

If there’s a story that sums up the Swans this year, it’s Lewis Melican’s incredible resurgence.

Sydney’s defence has been impenetrable throughout most of 2024, whether it’s Tom McCartin’s assuredness or Nick Blakey’s electrifying runs. But the significance of Melican’s season, amid a career plagued with injuries, can’t be understated.

The 27-year-old key defender has played every game for the Swans this year. Each time he steps onto the field he exudes more confidence than the week before and is finally fulfilling the potential John Longmire and the Sydney coaching set-up saw all those years ago.

“It’s just the trust we have in him to get his job done each week,” his teammate Ollie Florent said. “It’s a credit to him to get his body right …and I’m glad he’s getting his fruits now.”

It’s been nearly 10 years since Melican first made the move from Country Victoria to Sydney. Rookie listed by the Swans at the end of 2014, despite his often infrequent appearances over the years he is the seventh-longest serving player on the club’s current list.

Melican has often been entrusted with doing a job against some of the AFL’s best forwards. Picture: Phil Hillyard

When he reflects on the past decade, it’s not the constant time on the sidelines that comes to mind, but the love and passion he has for the game.

“It’s been a pretty long journey for me,” Melican said.

“I did a bit of training with the Swans before the draft (in 2014) so they were the only team I’d spoken to. There was a small chance I’d maybe get picked up but I wasn’t thinking about it too much. When it happened, I just hoped to play a game.

Sydney Swans defender Lewis Melican will remain in the red and white until at least the end of 2025.

The strong defender has triggered a clause in his contract which automatically keeps him at the Swans beyond this season. #Bloods

— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) May 16, 2024

“Being up here in Sydney, it definitely feels like home at this point. People ask would I ever move back, but my whole adult life has been up here and you forget it’s been 10 years.

“I moved up here fresh out of school from a small country town and absolutely I’ve changed. This club’s probably shaped me and moulded me a fair bit more than I realised. I’d like to think it’s definitely been for the better.

“Definitely when I was 18, I knew I’d love to be an AFL player, I didn’t expect it to be this long.”

The Swans were the only club that took an interest in the Geelong Falcons product. Picture: Brian Bartlett

That love of the game had to be enduring because things have never come easily for Melican. It took two years and significant development in the NEAFL competition before he eventually made his AFL debut in 2017 against the Giants. He would play 17 games that season, but even before that point, injuries had already crept into his game.

It was something unique to his time in the AFL system with a series of soft-tissue pulls, strains and tears becoming all too common.

Where others would grow frustrated with the amount of footy he was missing, he always found a way to focus on the positives. In particular, former Swans player and coach Rhyce Shaw became a key confidant in his journey.

Melican celebrates his first career win alongside Will Hayward and Ollie Florent in 2017. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Shawy was my development coach at the time and I did a lot of work with him in 2016,” Melican said. “I had had a couple of hamstring injuries and I wasn’t really enjoying football because they were taking a toll on me.

“We had a chat and just got back to getting the enjoyment out of football. Enjoying the grind and the hard work. That led to a good finish in 2016 and although we lost the NEAFL grand final, it was one of my better games.

“That was the base game to build everything on. I came into a good side and was able to play some decent footy that year.

“When you get to an AFL club, the workload is a lot different. You put on extra weight with the gym programs, so I think (the injuries) were a combination of everything. They do everything they can to reduce the risk … but it was probably such a big jump that it started to drain on me.”

Melican (2R) developed in a Swans list surrounded by superstars, but is finally paving his own way. Picture: Chris Pavlich

Melican got back on the field in 2019 for a relatively consistent 17 matches, but from that point onwards he has become far too used to the fluorescent lights of the Sydney treatment rooms. From the start of 2020, he played just 23 of a possible 84 matches. That included missing out on the entire 2022 campaign when the Swans made the grand final.

But the memory of that feeling from 2016 kept him going. It turned into the motivation for a successful return in 2023, and saw him play one of his best games for the Swans when he was recalled for the elimination final against Carlton.

“I’d had a bit of an idea that I was getting another contract (before the Carlton game), so it didn’t feel like the last game, but I was just able to get my body right,” Melican said.

“I felt I’d done enough to prove myself that I was still able to do it at this level. The love I had for football, when you’re out there playing well and the joy that brings you. To have that taken away with injuries, you want to get back to it

“That game just gave me the confidence to keep cracking in and go again.”

After almost two months out of the side, Melican didn’t put a foot wrong in the narrow loss to Carlton. Picture: Michael Klein

Patience has proven to be a virtue, with a full pre-season on restricted activities – “I only needed to do 80 per cent, but I did 80 per cent at 100 per cent” – proving the catalyst for Melican’s form this season.

His footy IQ has always been one of his biggest attributes, but eventually being able to match it with consistent physicality has Melican feeling close to the levels of confidence he had in 2017.

When he runs out against Fremantle on Saturday, it will be just his 75th AFL game since being rookie listed in 2014. But with a clear role each week on the field, and the trust of his teammates that he’ll get the job done, Melican and his No.43 guernsey are finally living out the footy career he dreamed of as a kid.

The Swans have always believed in Melican’s ability, and they’re reaping the rewards in 2024. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“We’ve got some absolute guns in our team that I don’t ever feel like I need to do too much,” he said. “At times, that is just locking down a man or coming forward and helping Tom in the air if I need.

“We’ve made it clear as a back six, but also as a team, that you don’t have to do anything more than your role. If we do that every week, that’ll be enough to get us over the line.

“The trying moments are when you’re not playing. And then when you get back out there, it all comes rushing back and it makes sense why you dug in to get back to the great times.

“It was always that I loved what I did. I wanted to be out there doing what I love and I didn’t have any other ideas of what else I’d do. So that was always the driving factor.”

Originally published as Lewis Melican: Sydney defender’s 10 years as a Swan, injury pain and success