Sapphire Coast club Merimbula Diggers to call on services of AFL legend for one week only

The Sapphire Coast will be pumping as the local A-grade competition welcomes an AFL legend who has done it all in the game. See how you can meet one of the greats of the modern game.

The South Coast is gearing up for it’s biggest weekend of Aussie rules in recent memory.

Merimbula is set to welcome one of the most popular names in the game into Diggers colours when Dane Swan comes to town this weekend.

The Collingwood premiership winner and Brownlow Medallist has been travelling the country for cameo appearances at a number of community clubs.

Now it’s Merimbula’s turn, with the club labelling the one-game acquisition as a huge coup for not only the club, but footy in the region.

“Our newly appointed coach is from Wedderburn in Victoria and some of his former teammates played in the club over there,” club president Robbie Beuzeville said.

“Dane went over there for a promotion and they’re just going around spreading the good word about AFL.

“We gave Ricky a call who gave us some dates and the rest is history.”

Swan will line up this Saturday at Berrambool Oval (2.30pm), with the Diggers wanting to give a new club in the competition the spotlight as well.

“We chose to do it with the Bega-Tathra Kangaroos, being a newly formed club which amalgamated this year and coinciding with celebrating 30 years from our first premiership,” he said.

Dane Swan recently had a run in Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

“It’s about the kids and showing the kids that AFL is fun, you can do well out of it, it’s a good lifestyle.

“We’ve got a fairly young side as well and a lot of the kids in our side have grown up in Merimbula, so they’re all excited.

“There’s a bit of hype around the kids at training with this superstar coming to our club and will wear our colours.”

Beuzeville said he hopes the event draws eyeballs not just on the day, but on the league as a whole for years to come, with a host of young talent coming through the region.

“It’s just going to be a good spectacle. It’s good for the kids, it’s good for Collingwood supporters, it’s good for AFL supporters,” he said.

“It’s good for football on the Sapphire Coast, because at times I think Sapphire Coast AFL is forgotten.

“It’s raising the profile of footy on the Sapphire Coast.

“We’ve got good football leagues around us, but we’ve also got one down here.

“We’re commonly known as a Victorian tourist destination and we do play AFL, we just need it to be known a little bit more.

“We need more highlights. We need more of the Swans, GWS people acknowledging that hey there is football down here and there’s some terrific young kids playing the game.”

An Evening with Dane Swan and Ricky Nixon is taking place at the Merimbula RSL Club on the same night. Tickets can be purchased through the club.

Originally published as Sapphire Coast club Merimbula Diggers to call on services of AFL legend for one week only