Bulldog Swan still hoping Wulff achieves gloryFriday, April 4, 2014 - 5:46 PM - by Chris Pike

MICHAEL Swan will be doing all he can to make sure that South Fremantle is as physically strong and healthy as he can in 2014, but the long-time East Perth captain would get a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing his former team and in particular Craig Wulff win a premiership he long fought for.

Swan was trying to build his physiotherapy career (Swan Physiotherapy) during his decorated playing career at East Perth, but after retiring at the end of the 2013 grand final he can now throw himself full into the profession.

That includes a role as the head physiotherapist at South Fremantle and without doubt he will be doing everything he can to make that the Bulldogs players are as ready and able physically to have a big season.

However, having played 171 games for East Perth, including 90 as captain, and bleeding blue and black since arriving to join his triple-premiership winning brother David at the club in 2003, he can't help but still hope to see the Royals do well.

That especially is for players he spent plenty of his career with and the one man he played all of his time at East Perth with was Craig Wulff, and he would love nothing more than to see the best player he ever played with get to enjoy winning a premiership.

"It would make me really happy to see Craig Wulff win a premiership," Swan said.

"What he has done throughout his career, he is easily the best football player I've ever played with and I played with a lot of outstanding football players not only at East Perth but also the Sydney Swans."

Swan arrived at East Perth in 2003 with the Royals coming off winning a hat-trick of premierships, but it took up until his very last game last year for him to get to play off in his first, and only, grand final.

That ended up being a loss to West Perth so it wasn’t the fairytale ending, but that is something he knows he will just have to learn to deal with now that there is nothing he can do to change it.

"I was very torn at the end of last year. Going into the season, deep down I knew it was going to be my last year of football so I just wanted to give it my all. To not finish with a premiership was really disappointing and it's something that I have to live with," he said.

"I will never forget that or the experience of playing in a grand final. That's the game and it is very rare that you get a fairytale in football.

"I played my heart out on grand final day like I did my whole career, but West Perth totally outplayed us and that's something that the players who played for East Perth will have to always live with.

"The guys who are still there have an opportunity to do something about it but the guys who are no longer there will have to live with it. It's something I have to live with and it is very disappointing, but that's life."

Swan's heart might always be with East Perth, but he won't be having any urge to cheer them on when he's working with South Fremantle up against the Royals for the first time this Friday night at Fremantle Oval.

Given his football experience, leadership and abilities, he would be a natural to help out in a capacity and he might give Paul Hasleby some advice on his former team this week, but overall he is happy to step away from the football side and focus on getting the Bulldogs players fit and firing.

"I haven’t seen any of East Perth play yet this year and they probably have a different game plan and a lot of different players from last year. If Hase wants to pick my brains, then I will talk to him about whatever I can help with but I'm not sure how useful it will be," Swan said.

"I hadn’t really thought too much about what I would do when I finished playing football. I did want to stay involved especially at WAFL level and I wanted to further my skills as a physiotherapist, and my career by taking up this role.

"I potentially could have looked at coaching, but I thought that just at the moment I wanted to take a step back from the football side of things and focus on my career as a physio because that has been neglected a bit whilst I was still playing football. This has been very enjoyable so far and stressful at times."

Swan isn’t missing it too much just yet, but working at South Fremantle is something he is excited about not only because of the opportunity provided to be head physio, but also because his wife Shannon's grandfather is Bulldogs legend Clive Lewington.

"In terms of not playing myself, I'm not missing it too much which is a good thing. I love being involved still in WAFL football especially here at the South Fremantle Football Club because I do have a bit of a family connection through my wife," he said.

"It's really good to be able to contribute to a footy club in a different fashion so I'm really enjoying the role as a physiotherapist down here at South Fremantle, and working with a new bunch of guys.

"They are a fantastic bunch of players and it's really good to try and facilitate their performance just by trying to help them with any injuries they might have. It is actually quite rewarding to treat a player and to get them back out on the field, and watch them perform as they should. It definitely is rewarding from that viewpoint."

Swan went through plenty with his body through his playing career that likely could have extended well beyond 200 games if he wasn’t cut down by those injuries.

So combine that plus the quality of footballer he was and the respect he was held in by the WAFL competition, then the South Fremantle players are having no trouble listening to his advice now on their bodies.

"It definitely helps when players talking about symptoms and signs of a particular condition, quite often I have experienced that myself and that helps give me that insight as to what the actual injury is, and what they need to do to rehabilitate and the time frame of that injury," Swan said.

"I think the players are also a bit more receptive because they know I have been in their situation so they have been very respectful of my advice and treatment I give them."

Swan's wife Shannon might have thought she would get her husband back from football now at least for a while, but given he doesn’t need to go through all the preparation that he does as a footballer, it has worked out quite well.

And given he was likely as intense a footballer that the WAFL has seen in years, not having that keeping him on edge has made him much better to live with as well.

"She has been very, very supportive because in this role I don’t have the same social constraints as when I'm playing," he said.

"So in terms of dietary requirements and just being able to go out the night before a game and catching up with friends or having a drink with dinner, we can do that and I don’t have to be in bed.

"Psychologically I was quite intense when I used to play so from that side of it I have been a lot more relaxed around the house, and have probably been contributing around the house with the chores as well because I haven’t been as physically tired."

Even if Swan was tempted with thoughts of playing again, his body won't be allowing it.

He and Shannon took the chance over the Australian summer to holiday in North America and take in some snow, and go skiing for the first time but it didn’t quite go to plan with Swan crashing, and hurting his knee which has now required a reconstruction.

"I had never been skiing ever in my life because of football so we went on a holiday where I got to see snow and go skiing," Swan said.

"Unfortunately I had an accident when we were at Silverstar in Canada and I injured my knee, and now I require a knee reconstruction. It's the first knee injury I've ever had so it's just another one to add to the list."