Wayne Schwass

Wayne Schwass
Personal information
Date of birth	(1968-11-27) 27 November 1968
Place of birth	New Zealand
Original team(s)	South Warrnambool
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1988–1997	North Melbourne	184 0(97)
1998–2002	Sydney Swans	098 0(57)
Total		282 (154)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2002.
Career highlights
North Melbourne Best and Fairest 1994, 1995 North Melbourne Premiership player 1996 Sydney Swans Best and Fairest 1999 All-Australian 1999 New Zealand Hawks 2012
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Wayne Schwass (born 27 November 1968) is a former Australian rules football player in the VFL/AFL who debuted in 1988.

He is notable as one of only a few New Zealand-born players of Māori heritage in the history of the VFL/AFL.

Schwass moved from New Zealand at the age of 10 to Warrnambool in Victoria, Australia area where he began playing Australian Rules before being recruited by VFL club Kangaroos.

"Swatta" was a champion wingman, known for his blistering pace and courage who played in the Kangaroos' 1996 premiership side before becoming a leader in the Sydney Swans side.

In 2006, Schwass announced that he had suffered from depression during his successful AFL career. In 2006, Schwass set up The Sunrise Foundation to help other athletes who suffer from depression. On December 13, 2017, Schwass posted on Twitter an image of himself celebrating when receiving his 1996 premiership medallion with the caption "this is what suicidal looks like". He goes on to describe his smile as "fake" and his feelings of isolation in what was the highlight of his career.

In 2012, Schwass was a player-coach for the New Zealand representative AFL side, the NZ Hawks, against the Australian AIS-AFL Academy team. He has long been a great supporter and ambassador for the game in New Zealand which has had several AFL and numerous Australian State league players play in the past five years.

Schwass is now founder and CEO of PukaUp, a social enterprise who state their vision is "to create the environments for every person to have authentic and genuine conversations about mental health and emotional wellbeing.” A regular on the public speaking circuit, Schwass also hosts the PukaUp Podcast with PodcastONE. Schwass is still involved with AFL, as a commentator for Triple M on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.

Statistics

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)							Votes
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1988	North Melbourne	46	7	3	4	95	34	129	21	20	0.4	0.6	13.6	4.9	18.4	3.0	2.9	0
1989	North Melbourne	2	22	14	10	265	177	442	40	51	0.6	0.5	12.0	8.0	20.1	1.8	2.3	10
1990	North Melbourne	2	15	7	6	173	121	294	27	27	0.5	0.4	11.5	8.1	19.6	1.8	1.8	3
1991	North Melbourne	2	21	8	10	306	147	453	75	46	0.4	0.5	14.6	7.0	21.6	3.6	2.2	13
1992	North Melbourne	2	14	7	5	209	91	300	41	37	0.5	0.4	14.9	6.5	21.4	2.9	2.6	2
1993	North Melbourne	2	19	14	5	313	124	437	32	49	0.7	0.3	16.5	6.5	23.0	1.7	2.6	14
1994	North Melbourne	2	24	15	13	353	177	530	54	61	0.6	0.5	14.7	7.4	22.1	2.3	2.5	19
1995	North Melbourne	2	25	19	14	381	171	552	77	50	0.8	0.6	15.2	6.8	22.1	3.1	2.0	13
1996†	North Melbourne	2	17	3	5	214	89	303	46	33	0.2	0.3	12.6	5.2	17.8	2.7	1.9	6
1997	North Melbourne	2	20	7	5	264	89	353	53	46	0.4	0.3	13.2	4.5	17.7	2.7	2.3	8
1998	Sydney	2	22	23	6	380	127	507	61	38	1.0	0.3	17.3	5.8	23.0	2.8	1.7	15
1999	Sydney	2	23	9	9	429	184	613	98	49	0.4	0.4	18.7	8.0	26.7	4.3	2.1	19
2000	Sydney	2	22	12	14	347	195	542	102	65	0.5	0.6	15.8	8.9	24.6	4.6	3.0	8
2001	Sydney	2	22	12	8	295	152	447	79	54	0.5	0.4	13.4	6.9	20.3	3.6	2.5	7
2002	Sydney	2	9	1	1	75	55	130	14	15	0.1	0.1	8.3	6.1	14.4	1.6	1.7	0
Career			282	154	115	4099	1933	6032	820	641	0.5	0.4	14.5	6.9	21.4	2.9	2.3	137

External links

• Wayne Schwass's profile on the official website of the Sydney Swans
• 500 ‘Puka Up’ and bring issue of suicide out into the light in Wangaratta community walk