Under the Auld Pump: Camperdown co-coach Neville Swayn reflects on concussion leading to early retirement

Wife: Natasha. Children: Sophie, Holly and Rory.

Parents: Geoff and Gwen. Siblings: Allan, Rodney and Murray.

Education: Weerite Primary School before going to Camperdown High School.

Sporting highlight: Playing for Camperdown's under 19 side when it won the premiership in 1990.

Neville, that's interesting that your sporting highlight relates to an under 19 premiership. Can you remember how many years the Hampden league had under 19 footy?

I think it was only the one year - 1990. The league changed it back to under 18 the next year.

We were coached by Bob Evans when we defeated Colac on the Reid Oval to win the flag.

The game itself is a real blur to me. I can remember we won the game quite convincingly.

Where did your footy career begin?

I played juniors at Camperdown. I can still remember playing in the under eights up at the Camperdown showgrounds on Saturday mornings. I then played in the under 10s.

We used to play against the same sides each Saturday because it was a local Camperdown competition.

I can remember there was an under 16 side which represented St Pat's and one that was for the Camperdown Football Club.

Neville, after you played in the under 19 premiership with Camperdown in 1990, did you go on and play seniors with the club?

No, I went out and played senior footy with Lismore.

A good mate of mine, Brett Evans, was playing with Lismore and he encouraged me to go out and play with them.

Lismore was a terrific club but we had no finals success in the three years I played there.

We played in the old Western Plains competition against sides like Skipton and Cressy.

Where did you play footy after those three years at Lismore?

I retired from playing but I stayed involved as the under 17 coach at Lismore.

The reason for my retirement was I got concussed too many times.

I wore a helmet but I was just at a bad height and I loved to get in under the packs.

The last time I got knocked out I got hit in the temple area. I was starting to suffer more and more headaches.

The doctors advised me to hang up the boots, so I took the medical advice.

I loved playing footy I was only 22 years old but I realised my health was far my important than having a kick of the footy on Saturday afternoons.

Have you suffered with headaches after you retired from playing footy?

No. I just took things quite for a while and then the headaches disappeared.

I knew then if I couldn't play I could coach which has proven to be a great result because I love footy.

I was appointed co-coach, with Damien Broderick, of Lismore for the 1999 season.

The old Western Plains competition had folded and we joined the Mininera league.

It was a jump in competition. We had a lot of young kids and did a good job to just finish in sixth spot.

I stayed out there for one year before having a year off.

I came back and coached Camperdown's under 18 side in 2001 and 2002.

We made the elimination final in 2002.

I was offered the senior job back out at Lismore-Derrinallum for the 2003 season but I declined the offer.

I had a bit of a break before being asked to be on the match committee when Torin Baker took over as the senior coach in 2006 at Camperdown.

We lost the grand final to South Warrnambool.

I missed the 2007 and 2008 seasons before I was asked to be chairman of selectors at Camperdown in 2009.

Russell Whiteford was the senior coach.

I filled the chairman of selectors role for the next few years under Bernard Moloney and Dan Casey.

I missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons before being appointed assistant coach to Phil Carse for 2017.

I had the same role in 2018 when we lost the grand final to Koroit.

We had our chances to win that grand final but Koroit was just too strong.

I was then appointed joint coach with Jack Williams for the 2019 season and then I was to be the senior coach this year, but we all know there's been no footy.

The sad thing is we were looking like we were going to be very competitive this year.

We had recruited well and things were looking good but now we're looking forward to 2021.

Neville, are you going to keep all your players for the 2021 season?

We're hoping that we will. We've been in contact with the playing group to see how they are coping.

We haven't wanted to bombard the players because there are so many other things going on with the coronavirus pandemic.

We've got a very strong group of under 18 players who are ready to stand up to senior footy.

It should be exciting times for our fans in 2021.

I've been very lucky finding time to coach.

I'm in partnership with my brother Murray in Warrnambool RV and Caravan Centre. We've been in business for 12 years and Murray has offered me a lot of support regarding my coaching commitments.

Coaching local footy clubs can be very demanding and time consuming, but Murray has given me enormous support which I'm extremely grateful for.

Neville, let's go back for minute I note that your primary school education was at Weerite. What was it like attending the Weerite Primary School?

It was really good. I suppose the lasting memory I have is attending the school in 1984.

I was in grade six and I was the only child in grade six.

There were just 20 students in the whole school.

They are wonderful memories of my early education years. We lived on a dairy farm and used to catch the bus to school.

The strange thing is, I went from being in a school of 20 students to a few hundred when I went to secondary school. It was a very big culture change.