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Wayne Schwass

Wayne Schwass
Personal information
Nickname(s) Swatta
Date of birth (1968-11-27) 27 November 1968 (age 56)
Place of birth Christchurch, New Zealand[1]
Original team(s) South Warrnambool
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 80 kg (176 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1988–1997 North Melbourne 184 0(97)
1998–2002 Sydney Swans 098 0(57)
Total 282 (154)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2002.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Wayne Schwass (born 27 November 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He is notable as being the first New Zealand–born AFL player known to be of Māori heritage.[2] He holds the record for VFL/AFL matches played by a New Zealand–born player, with 282.

Schwass has long been a great supporter and ambassador for Australian rules football in New Zealand, and he realised his dream of representing his country in 2012 as part of the New Zealand national team, becoming the first home-grown AFL player to play, captain and coach a country other than Australia in the sport.

Early life

Schwass was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, to mother Rae and Māori father Colin.[3] They moved to the Warrnambool area in Victoria, Australia, when Wayne was three years old. He began playing Australian Rules at the South Warrnambool Football Club at the age of 10.[4]

An outstanding talent, Schwass was recruited by Kangaroos as a junior and captained the North Melbourne under-19s to the premiership in 1987 and took out the Morrish Medal as the best and fairest in the under-19s.

He was educated at Warrnambool North Technical School from year 7-11 before competing his final year (year 12) at Trinity Grammar in Melbourne.[5]

AFL career

Following his senior debut in 1988, Schwass became a champion wingman, known for his blistering pace, courage, and accuracy on his left foot. Schwass won the club champion award, the Syd Barker Medal, twice at North Melbourne, in 1994 and 1995. He was one of the best in the Kangaroos' 1996 premiership side against Sydney and was named vice-captain to Wayne Carey.[6][7]

In 1998 in the twilight of his career, North Melbourne traded Schwass to Sydney in exchange for a young Shannon Grant.

At the Sydney Swans the following year, Schwass was an instant leader, taking out the club's best-and-fairest award and earning All-Australian selection. He would retire a few seasons later, playing just short of 100 games with the Swans, ending his serviceable AFL career.

Post-AFL career

In 2012, Schwass was a player-coach for the New Zealand representative AFL side, the New Zealand Hawks, against the Australian AIS-AFL Academy team.[8] He has long been a great supporter and ambassador for Australian rules football in New Zealand.

Personal life

Schwass is now founder and CEO of PukaUp, a social enterprise who states their vision is "to create the environments for every person to have authentic and genuine conversations about mental health and emotional wellbeing."[9] A regular on the public-speaking circuit, Schwass also hosts the PukaUp Podcast with PodcastONE. Schwass is still involved with AFL as a commentator for Triple M on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.

Statistics

[10]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1988 North Melbourne 46 7 3 4 95 34 129 21 20 0.4 0.6 13.6 4.9 18.4 3.0 2.9 0
1989 North Melbourne 2 22 14 10 265 177 442 40 51 0.6 0.5 12.0 8.0 20.1 1.8 2.3 10
1990 North Melbourne 2 15 7 6 173 121 294 27 27 0.5 0.4 11.5 8.1 19.6 1.8 1.8 3
1991 North Melbourne 2 21 8 10 306 147 453 75 46 0.4 0.5 14.6 7.0 21.6 3.6 2.2 13
1992 North Melbourne 2 14 7 5 209 91 300 41 37 0.5 0.4 14.9 6.5 21.4 2.9 2.6 2
1993 North Melbourne 2 19 14 5 313 124 437 32 49 0.7 0.3 16.5 6.5 23.0 1.7 2.6 14
1994 North Melbourne 2 24 15 13 353 177 530 54 61 0.6 0.5 14.7 7.4 22.1 2.3 2.5 19
1995 North Melbourne 2 25 19 14 381 171 552 77 50 0.8 0.6 15.2 6.8 22.1 3.1 2.0 13
1996† North Melbourne 2 17 3 5 214 89 303 46 33 0.2 0.3 12.6 5.2 17.8 2.7 1.9 6
1997 North Melbourne 2 20 7 5 264 89 353 53 46 0.4 0.3 13.2 4.5 17.7 2.7 2.3 8
1998 Sydney 2 22 23 6 380 127 507 61 38 1.0 0.3 17.3 5.8 23.0 2.8 1.7 15
1999 Sydney 2 23 9 9 429 184 613 98 49 0.4 0.4 18.7 8.0 26.7 4.3 2.1 19
2000 Sydney 2 22 12 14 347 195 542 102 65 0.5 0.6 15.8 8.9 24.6 4.6 3.0 8
2001 Sydney 2 22 12 8 295 152 447 79 54 0.5 0.4 13.4 6.9 20.3 3.6 2.5 7
2002 Sydney 2 9 1 1 75 55 130 14 15 0.1 0.1 8.3 6.1 14.4 1.6 1.7 0
Career 282 154 115 4099 1933 6032 820 641 0.5 0.4 14.5 6.9 21.4 2.9 2.3 137

References

  1. ^ Wayne Schwass talks about his AFL career By Tim Auld for The Standard 31 July 2012
  2. ^ Māori overseas – Retaining Māori culture in Australia – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
  3. ^ Wayne Schwass talks about his AFL career By Tim Auld for The Standard 31 July 2012
  4. ^ "Where are they now: Wayne Schwass".
  5. ^ "Wayne Schwass linkedin".
  6. ^ 150 Profiles: Wayne Schwass
  7. ^ Australian Football: Wayne Schwass
  8. ^ De Kretser, Chris (31 January 2013). "Wayne Schwass helps New Zealand against AIS-AFL Academy team in Wellington". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  9. ^ "AFL great urges Australia to Puka up". Daily Telegraph. 7 October 2017.
  10. ^ Wayne Schwass' player profile at AFL Tables
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