Emma Swanson has conceded she’s unsure whether she will play on in 2027, as the former skipper prepares to make history for West Coast.
Swanson, 31, will play her 75th match against Sydney at Henson Park on Sunday, becoming the first player in club history to reach the milestone in what could be one of her final AFLW appearances.
The inaugural captain of the Eagles, Swanson said the juggle of motherhood and her other full-time job as a firefighter made it more difficult each year to continue to play at the top level.
“I feel really great physically. The move to half-back has been unreal for the body. It’s taken me a couple of years to build that different style of running ... I’ve maintained another career outside of this for the last six years, and it’s hard to keep putting that to the side and be asking for them to give me six or seven months of every single year without pay,” Swanson said.
“In the past 12 to 18 months, I’ve got to this point and gone ‘I’m not sure how I’m going to make this work,’ and somehow we keep making it work.
“I’ve got a nearly two-year-old at home, a partner who nearly does everything for me and allows me to do two full-time, career jobs which have been my dream jobs since I was a kid. There’s a fair of stuff when I get to this point of the year that I have to think about.”
On the field, Swanson will be remembered as one of the pillars their AFLW program was built around. A two-time club champion as well as inaugural captain, a role she held for six seasons after joining the club when it entered the competition from Greater Western Sydney in 2020.
But just as important has been her ability to create a culture for the club to build success upon, which the club is starting to see under coach Daisy Pearce.
“There were so many barriers for on-field performance, but the thing Swanny has done as a leader is teach the group where the standard is and lead by example on that front,” Pearce said.
“And then build an off-field culture that’s made the best of the challenges that building this team had in those early years.
“It was built by people like Swanny. And I’ve been able to leverage off it and work closely with her.”
Swanson said she was proud to have been part of the journey for the Eagles to reach the point where they were now competitive on the field.
“I’ve seen three or four iterations of the program or the team, and in the last three or four years we’ve had this core group of girls who have stuck together, and everything’s been built around that, which has been good,” she said.
“We had a couple of past players’ games this year where the past players have come down. We’ve turned over the list a couple of times and, like I said, a few iterations, but it’s become a real sweet spot now where they’re so excited for us as a group.
“I think a lot of the foundations of our culture that we built were from that first ever team and the connection we had. I am pretty happy I’ve been able to see it all unfold.”