Dane Swan defends infamous Collingwood ‘rat-pack’

Collingwood great Dane Swan has rejected suggestions the club’s infamous ‘rat-pack’ had a negative impact on the club.

It follows an admission from the 2011 Brownlow medallist he used illicit drugs during his AFL career.

Swan was renowned for his non-conventional approach to football during his stellar career with the Magpies, with former teammates including Alan Didak, Chris Tarrant and Heath Shaw also courting off-field controversy.

Swan told 3AW he understood why some might have found the group ‘distracting’ at times, but said their results on-field spoke for themselves.

‘On game-day, when it was close and you needed people to stand up, it was the rat-pack who stood up and got the side over the line,’ Swan told Sports Today.

‘Just because we were a group who, I guess, had off field incidents ? it doesn’t mean we didn’t work hard.

‘Benny Johnson was probably the hardest trainer at the club during our time and Chris Tarrant was probably the hardest trainer in the weight room.

‘The guys actually trained hard and played hard.

‘Look at all our achievements.

‘It’s not like we were the list-cloggers at the bottom of the list, hurting the footy club.

‘We were the ones taking the footy club to a premiership.’

Click PLAY below to hear more from Dane Swan in the 3AW studio