Brownlow Medal winner Dane Swan will pull on the boots for South Australian local club Nangwarry in 2023 in what will be a one-off match for their season opener in April.
Nangwarry, a local town on the fringes of the South Australia-Victoria border near the Limestone Coast, has been home to a battling local football club in recent years, with the Saints having lost their clubrooms to a suspicious fire while also enduring a 106-game win drought that spanned eight years.
Their streak-ending win came last year over Tattanoola, which would be their sole victory of 2022 to see the Saints again finish ninth on the Mid South Eastern Football League ladder.
Their hopes to begin the new season in style have been lifted, with Swan revealed as a marquee signing for Nangwarry's season opener on April 15.
"We've had plenty of local legends through the club but no-one of that calibre, that's for sure," club president Shane Ploenges told ABC.
"It's really exciting. That first game of the year is the 30-year reunion of our first premiership, too.
"That will be a special day for those guys."
Swan, who resides in Victoria, isn't unfamiliar with one-off local football stints interstate, having featured for New South Wales side South West Sydney last year.
The 38-year-old signed with Victorian side St Kilda City at the end of last season, teaming up with Carlton great Brendon Fevola in the Southern Football Netball League.
Swan played 258 games for Collingwood across a 15-year career at the club, where he won a Brownlow Medal, Leigh Matthews Trophy, AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award, five All-Australian selections, three best and fairests and two ANZAC Day Medals.
