Dane Swan lifts the lid on his wild AFL Hall of Fame party – and reveals the action didn’t stop until 7.15am!
- Dane Swan says he was still awake at 7:15 am
- Revealed which ex-players partied the longest
- Was forced to cancel media duties the next day
Collingwood legend Dane Swan has taken footy fans to his huge Australian Football Hall of Fame party, where he partied well into the next morning with some of the AFL’s biggest names.
Swan was the fourth inductee at Tuesday night’s gala event in Melbourne and he lived up to his reputation as one of the AFL’s true larrikins as he had the audience in stitches with several wild anecdotes.
Swan was much loved by a legion of Magpie Army fans and was a leader of Collingwood’s famous ‘rat pack’ during their successful spell under coaching legend Mick Malthouse and his successor Nathan Buckley.
Swan gave a masterful speech and was left hysterical as he reflected on his many off-field controversies.
Collingwood legend Dane Swan has revealed he was awake until 7.15am the next day after his Australian Football Hall of Fame gong
Swan had the audience in stitches with several wild anecdotes during the event
After the ceremony concluded, attendees walked over to Swan’s table, where he was well on his way to a good night with fellow “rat pack” members Heath Shaw, Chris Tarrant, Ben Johnson and Alan Didak.
The group apparently had a big night when Swan apologetically called on AFL bosses on Wednesday to politely withdraw from the morning’s media duties.
On Thursday morning, Swan revealed more about what happened at the afterparty, which ended at 7:15 a.m. the next day.
“I was supposed to do some media,” Swan told the station 3AW.
“I texted the AFL at about 7.15am and I was definitely still awake… It was a good night.”
When asked which members of the rat group partied with him the longest, Swan replied: ‘Me, “Taz” (Chris Tarrant) and Ben Johnson.
Swan had to step away from his media duties on Wednesday morning
The Pies legend (pictured with a mark in 2015) described it as a ‘solid night’ and said he, Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson partied the hardest until the early hours.
‘Probably the three. Yes, those were the three who went by the name Rat Pack.”
Swan was also questioned about why he thought he was in trouble when he received a call from AFL chairman Richard Goyder to tell him he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“Every time the AFL called me it was never for anything good,” he revealed.
“It’s nice to be on the list for something positive for once.”
Swan was arrested at the end of 2003, his second year at Collingwood, after getting into a fight with bouncers.
His father Bill Swan, a great Victorian Football Association player, told the young player to walk away if he wasn’t interested in an AFL career.
Club leaders, including legendary coach Mick Malthouse, sat Swan down and told him some brutal truths as they urged him to repay their trust.
He turned it around and became a Magpies great, famously starring in the 2010 premiership and the Brownlow Medal a year later.
Swan was an All-Australian for five consecutive seasons (2009-2013) and won Collingwood’s best and fairest award three times (2008-2010).