AFL bad boy Dane Swan has opened up about the naked video that saw him land in court, his mateship with Richmond superstar Dustin Martin, what his tattoos mean to him and his anger at the persecution of his podcast colleague.
The 2011 Brownlow Medallist spoke candidly on Fox Footy’s Open Mike show on some of the difficulties he had overcome through his playing career and post-playing life, and how they have shaped him into who he is today.
When asked if he was embarrassed about anything he had done, Swan touched on the nude video which was leaked in 2017.
The clip showed Swan kissing a woman who then filmed his naked body.
AFL bad boy Dane Swan (pictured with partner Taylor Wilson) has opened up about the naked video that saw him land in court and his best friend Dustin Martin
In May of the following year, Swan issued a strongly worded statement on Channel Nine’s The Footy Show saying he was the victim of a ‘gross breach of privacy’.
The woman at the centre of the scandal was charged in August of 2018, but was later cleared of wrongdoing.
Asked about his regrets, Swan said that the sequence of events that led to the video was among them.
‘They say you live and you learn,’ he told the show’s host Mike Sheahan on Tuesday.
‘All your mistakes, if that’s what you want to call them, you learn from them and you try and become a better person from them.’
Georgia May Gibson (centre) was charged in August of 2018 as it is illegal in Victoria to share an intimate or sexual video of a person if they do not agree, but was cleared
Swan (pictured with girlfriend Taylor Wilson) issued a strongly worded statement on Channel Nine’s The Footy Show saying he was the victim of a ‘gross breach of privacy’
In July, Swan came under fire and his podcast was cancelled after he and co-hosts Scott Cummings and Ralph Horowitz laughed about terms describing non-consensual sex.
While Cummings publicly apologised for what he said, Swan said that despite all the backlash he believes he did nothing wrong.
‘We were laughing at the absurdity of it, saying that’s disgusting – who would do that,’ Swan said.
‘We weren’t saying, “go out and do this and have a laugh and report back”, so that annoyed me.’
While he believes he has grown as a person over the past few years, he noted that some issues in the past few months may cause people to think otherwise
In July, Swan came under fire and his podcast was cancelled after he and co-host Scott Cummings joked about sexual assault
Swan told viewers if they didn’t want to hear his opinion to steer clear of the podcast as it ‘might not be for everyone’, adding he ‘doesn’t watch podcasts on gardening’.
Just last month he announced yet another venture named Swanny and Friends with an interesting post to Twitter.
‘First of all I’d like to apologise…to absolutely nobody. We’re back,’ Swan wrote.
Just last month he announced yet another venture named Swanny and Friends with an interesting post to Twitter
Swan remained strongly loyal to his podcast colleagues, as he did of Tigers star Dustin Martin.
The pair had holidayed together regularly in Las Vegas, and bonded over their lives as much-scrutinised and often misunderstood footy stars.
The famous duo have also been spotted partying in other locations in the United States, with a trip to Austin, Texas, making headlines in 2017.
Sheahan asked Swan if he and Martin were ‘tight’.
‘Nah, we hate each other Mike,’ Swan joked, at which point Sheahan quickly acknowledged he’d asked a ‘silly question’.
Sheahan asked if Swan was a mentor to Martin, but he insisted that ‘Dusty’ did not need any advice with how to play footy.
‘He doesn’t need me telling him how to play football,’ Swan said.
‘He’s got his head screwed on well and he’s got a lot of mentors at the footy club, he’s flying now.’
Swan and Martin share a love for tattoos, and Sheahan asked where the obsession with inking the skin came from.
‘When I was growing up tattoos never interested me, but I’m a very impulsive person… I woke up one morning at 22/23 and said “I’m going to get a tattoo”,’ Swan said.
‘I wasn’t blessed with beautiful olive skin, so I might as well cover myself in colour,’ he joked.
Swan has spent much of his time abroad with AFL superstar Dustin Martin, including a trip to Las Vegas together
He got his first tattoo on his stomach in an attempt to hide it during his football career, but it wasn’t long before he started covering his body
Swan is considered one of Collingwood’s greatest midfielders, winning a Brownlow Medal in 2011 and a premiership in 2010 in a 258-game AFL career.
The hard-running star retired in 2016 after badly injuring his foot during a round-one clash with Sydney.
He appeared in the Network Ten reality show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! in 2017 and was runner-up in the series.
The famous duo have also been spotted partying in other locations in the United States, with a trip to Austin, Texas, making headlines in 2017