CTV> Dane Swan speaks to CTV about his one-year contract extension and his recent success on and off the fieldOff the back of a terrific 2008 season, Collingwood has extended Dane Swan’s contract to secure him until the end of the 2011 season.
“Collingwood is the club I want to play for as I want to be a one-club player,” Swan told CTV outside the Lexus Centre after the announcement of his contract on Monday.
“When I was presented with the offer to sign for another year, I really wanted to and was happy to get the deal done.”
The 2008 E.W. Copeland Trophy winner was formally recognised by the club for his leadership skills when he was elected by the players to the leadership group this season. After six seasons at Collingwood, Swan believed the time was right to assume a leadership role.
“I just think you need to have some runs on the board before you can go into leadership. I have had two or three consistent years now so it’s time to try and develop some of the younger fellas.
“It will be good to get them to a level where we can really push for a premiership.
“That’s the ultimate goal to win a premiership and we have been pretty close the last two years and hopefully we should go one step further this year.”
Swan’s form (30 disposals, 10 marks) in the round one win against West Coast in the NAB Cup proved he is capable of continuing his success into the 2009 season.
“We were expected to win which we did. There are quite a few blokes who are in a lot of good form at the moment...so hopefully we can keep it up and build on that momentum to win a couple more NAB games and take that into the season.”
