Former football star Dane Swan has praised ex-teammate Jamie Elliott for continuing his trouble making ways, after he was arrested for urinating in public last weekend.
Over his 13-year career Swan cemented himself as a great of the game, winning both a Brownlow and premiership medal as part of Collingwood’s superstar 2011 team.
But it was his off-field efforts that equally endeared him to the public, as the leader of a group of close to a dozen party-loving teammates known as the ‘Ratpack’.
And now even with the majority of his teammates in retirement, Swan is clearly keen to see the ways of the ‘Ratpack’ continue, telling Elliott hearing he had been arrested ‘warms the cockles of the heart’.
Former football star Dane Swan (right) has praised ex-teammate Jamie Elliott (left) for continuing his trouble making ways after he was arrested for urinating in public last weekend
Swan (left, with close friend Dustin Martin), was the leader of a group of close to a dozen party-loving teammates known as the ‘Ratpack’
Swan told Elliott hearing he had been arrested ‘warms the cockles of the heart’
‘Absolutely warms the cockles of the heart to see the boys trying to keep the ratpack spirit alive at the pies,’ Swan, who is good friends of Dustin Martin, tweeted Monday.
‘Well done Jamie, well done.’
The Collingwood forward was reportedly arrested and fined for public drunkenness after urinating into a bin in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Elliott, 25, was caught by police as he urinated into a bin on Victoria Street in North Melbourne at about 4.50am on Sunday.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman, who wouldn’t name the player, said he’d been fined $634 for being drunk in a public place.
Elliott, 25, was caught by police as he urinated into a bin on Victoria Street in North Melbourne at about 4.50am
‘Well done Jamie, well done’: Swan praised Elliot for continuing with his trouble-making ways
At its peak the so-called ‘ratpack’ included star players such as Swan, Dale Thomas, Ben Johnson, Rhys and Heath Shaw, Chris Tarrant and Sharrod Wellingham.
However the troubles the group caused led to many of them being moved on from the club on the arrival of their former teammate Nathan Buckley as coach in 2012.
Throughout his career Swan himself was involved in a number of incidents, charged with assaulting a security guard outside a bar in 2003. He and three others settled on a $100,000 payout to the victim.
In 2012 he was also given a ban by Collingwood for breaking team rules after being caught drinking late in the season.
Elliot was reportedly fined $634 for being drunk in a public place