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Dane Swan does not hesitate to pinpoint the fork in the road that set on him on the path to a glittering AFL career and eventually induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
"When I got arrested," the Collingwood cult hero said at Tuesday night's induction ceremony.
"That was fun."
A self-confessed "s***head" during his junior days, who railed against authority, Swan initially believed football was all about fun and games off the field when he first arrived at the biggest club in the land.
"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 cliché, but it rang true with me."
Swan was arrested for getting into a fight with bouncers and a cleaner at Federation Square at the end of 2003, in his second year at Collingwood. He was charged and pleaded guilty to his involvement in the fight, which left the cleaner with a permanent brain injury.
His father Bill Swan, a Victorian Football Association great, told the young player to walk away if he was not interested in an AFL career.
Club leaders, including legendary coach Mick Malthouse, sat Swan down and told him some brutal home truths while urging him to repay their faith.
He turned it around and went on and to become a Magpies great, starring in the famous 2010 premiership and winning 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).
"I was just very, very lucky," he said.
"There were so many players that came in that were better, harder workers, faster, fitter, stronger and all those kinds of things.
"I've just got no idea why they kept me. I was like a cockroach, they just couldn't kill me.
"Mick [Malthouse] obviously saw something in me."
Swan credits former teammates Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson, among others, for setting him straight — or at least straighter.
The pair were part of a 35-strong entourage at Tuesday's induction ceremony, along with fellow Collingwood "rat pack" members Heath Shaw and Alan Didak.
"Those three or four years when you're with your best mates, like the 'rat pack', who are here today, it felt like it went for six months," Swan said.
"You play at the biggest club in the country, you have one of the bigger profiles, I was going OK, we played hard, we partied hard and we just had a great time.
"We barely lost and those are the moments you wish you could have back."
Malthouse saluted Swan as one of the best big-game players of his generation.
"His performances in finals and Anzac Day are quite remarkable because of the game, the big stage," the 2010 premiership coach said.
"Dane is the sort of player that gives the impression that he's a bit loose … but he's a very, very proud person. I can see the other side of Dane.
"What a lot of people don't realise is he'd go into the altitude room, put the heaters on to 30 degrees, pump it up to nearly 4000m, he'd get on the running machine and didn't publicise it, and come away knowing that he could get through a match with the speed and power that he could take on any tagger and anyone in the middle.
"That was his secret."
Ever the pot-stirrer, Swan pointed out during his acceptance speech that he was still not a member of Collingwood's Hall of Fame.
"Obviously you don't rate me as highly as the AFL [does]," he smirked.
"But they know I can be bribed and bought pretty easily and they bought a table for my mates tonight, so we're square."
Graham happy to go around again at age 72
South Australian football legend Rick Davies estimates former Sturt teammate Michael Graham has played more games at a decent level than anyone else in the sport's history.
At 72 years of age, the man dubbed 'The Flash' isn't quite ready to give it away.
"I was thinking I might have one more go in Fremantle this year — the Super Rules (national carnival)," Graham said upon being inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
"I'm still pretty good."
A champion in South Australia and the Northern Territory, Graham played more than 500 games at state league level and won premierships with Sturt (two) and St Mary's (three).
The dashing half-forward's trademark — as noted in his nickname — was his speed across the ground.
Graham represented SA 11 times and starred on the biggest stage the SANFL had to offer, but developed his greatest attribute in more humble surrounds.
"I used to chase rabbits in Penola, where I lived," Graham said.
"I suppose if you chase rabbits you get a bit of speed."
Davies, himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013, marvelled at Graham's ability on the field.
"I don't think I've seen anyone catch him," Davies said in a video tribute to his great friend.
"He could kick the ball and he could mark the ball.
"He used to love to fly and mark it on his chest.
"He was just an absolute genius."
Graham entertained the crowd with stories of his childhood and playing career, including one of his greatest football memories — Sturt's 1976 grand final win over rivals Port Adelaide.
The game was played in front of a record 66,897 fans at Football Park, with many spilling over the boundary fence before the game got underway.
"I'm lucky I got there early — for the first time at any game probably," Graham said.
"Some of our team got stuck down the road and had to walk in the traffic jam.
"When we ran out onto the ground there were people sitting all around the oval."
Diverse leagues and eras as six added to Hall of Fame
Swan and Graham joined Kelvin Templeton, Chris McDermott, Ralph Robertson and Ray Schofield in being inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Jason Dunstall was elevated to Legend status.
Templeton won a Brownlow in 1980 during a brilliant stint with Footscray that reaped 494 goals from 143 games.
He won the Coleman Medal in successive seasons (1978-79) as the VFL's leading goalkicker and is a two-time Bulldogs best-and-fairest winner (1978, 1980).
Templeton captained the Bulldogs in 1982 before adding 34 games and 99 goals in a three-year stint with Melbourne, retiring in 1985.
He later served as the Sydney Swans' chief executive officer from 1995-2002, and helped the club develop into an AFL powerhouse on and off the field after its shaky start to life in the Harbour City following the relocation from South Melbourne.
McDermott was a two-time SANFL premiership player and captain of Glenelg before being called on to lead the Crows for four years, starting with their inaugural AFL season in 1991.
He is a four-time best-and-fairest winner — three Glenelg (1986-1988) and one Adelaide (1992) — and also went on to coach North Adelaide in the SANFL from 1997-2000.
Robertson, who was killed on active service in 1917, played a total of about 150 games for East Sydney and North Shore in NSW, captaining both clubs and winning a premiership with each of them.
He captained NSW at the national carnival in three separate years and also played 14 games for St Kilda in the newly-formed VFL in 1899-1900.
Schofield is a West Perth great, having played 277 games for the club and 21 times for Western Australia.
He played in two premierships with the Cardinals - as they were then known - in 1949 and 1951, and won five best-and-fairest awards in a career that spanned 16 years.
Schofield captained West Perth in 1952 and 1957-58, also coaching the club in his final season.
Jason Dunstall's career goals against each team
Dunstall's elevation as the game's 32nd Legend was confirmed in April.
A four-time premiership player with Hawthorn, Dunstall kicked 1254 goals in a glittering 269-game AFL/VFL career before injuries forced him into retirement in 1998.
Only Tony Lockett (1360) and Gordon Coventry (1299) are higher on the competition's all-time list of leading goal-kickers.
Dunstall was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002, as soon as he became eligible.
2024 Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
MICHAEL GRAHAM (SANFL/NTFL)
*282 games for Sturt, 1971-85, 455 goals
*230 games for St Mary's (NTFL) 1969-70 to 1986-87
CHRIS MCDERMOTT (SANFL/AFL)
*277 games for Glenelg 1981-90 and 1995-96, 184 goals
*117 games for Adelaide Crows 1991-96, 31 goals
* 10 games for North Adelaide 1997
RALPH ROBERTSON (NSW Pioneer)
*St Kilda 1899-1900, 14 games
*East Sydney 1903-1908, estimated 80 games
*North Shore 1909-14, estimated 70 games
RAY SCHOFIELD (WAFL)
*277 games for West Perth, 1943-58, 261 goals
DANE SWAN (AFL)
*258 games for Collingwood, 211 goals
KELVIN TEMPLETON (VFL)
*143 games for Footscray 1974-82, 494 goals
*34 games for Melbourne 1983-85, 99 goals
LEGEND ELEVATION: JASON DUNSTALL
* 269 games for Hawthorn 1985-98, 1254 goals
AAP
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