Collingwood legend Dane Swan had the room in stitches following his awkward wording in his Hall of Fame inductee speech on Tuesday night.
Swan was the fourth inductee at the glitzy event in Melbourne and lived up to his reputation as one of the AFL’s true jokesters when he delivered his speech.
He thanked his girlfriend Taylor Wilson and managed to tread carefully when saying a one-liner that could have had a different meaning altogether.
“I’m not a cunning linguist … Lucky I got that out, that could’ve been dangerous,” he said.
“Without you, I don’t know where I’d be. I love you so, so much. Please remember these kind words when I’m refusing to come to bed in about 10 hours and I won’t kick anyone out of the after-party.”
Wilson, who shares three children with Swan, could be seen laughing in the audience but seemed to offer a cold stare at his remark.
A self-confessed ‘”s…head” during his younger days, Swan first thought football was only about having fun when he was off the field.
“I thought playing AFL was all about getting drink cards on a Saturday night,” he said.
“I’d give a lot of effort; it was all on a Saturday night.
“There was no effort during the day and I didn’t deserve to be on an AFL list.
“I got in that blue and got in trouble and thought I was going to be sacked.
“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. It’s very cliche, but it rang true with me.”
Swan was arrested for getting into a fight with bouncers at the end of 2003 during his second year at Collingwood.
“When I got arrested,” he said. “That was fun.”
His dad Bill Swan, a Victorian Football Association great, told his son to walk away if he wasn’t interested in pursuing an AFL career.
However after some hard truths from club leaders, including legendary coach Mick Malthouse, Swan pulled his head in and went on to become a starring Magpie.
He played in the 2010 premiership and won 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).
