Former West Coast midfielder Tom Swift quit football to pursue a career in medicine. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow
IN his own words, Tom Swift was "scared s--tless".
It was October 5 last year - just hours ahead of West Coast's club champion function - and Swift was walking into coach John Worsfold's office to tell him he was walking away from football.
"It was one of the hardest things I've ever done,'' Swift said.
"We were going on a players' trip the next day and I didn't want to do it before then because I was unsure of how everyone would react.
"But I planned to do a bit of travelling and get away from it all and I didn't want to be away and call them up and say 'look, I'm in America and I don't want to play'.
"I realised that my only real option, from a respect point of view, was to let the club know up-front and in person.''
So Swift called Worsfold and requested a meeting.
While Worsfold prepared for what he thought was a routine chat, the young midfielder's mind was racing, his heart pounding and his body sweating.
Swift, whose Year 12 TER of 99.85 placed him in the top 40 students in the state, entered his coach's office, sat down and told Worsfold that he believed his opportunities outside of football were greater than they were in the game.
"I sat down in his office and spilled it out,'' Swift said.
"His initial reaction I think was a bit of shock. But him being a competitive person and very driven and very success-oriented, he just understood it straight away.
"I think he really accepted it as a competitive person and as someone who obviously looks to get the best out of himself.''
While accepting, Worsfold asked Swift to take some more time to think. Swift told Worsfold his mind was already made up.
The footballer once rated the best 16-year-old in the country had given the game away at 22.
Tom Swift also decided not to continue playing for his WAFL club Claremont. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow
Dressed in tracksuit pants, thongs and a T-shirt, Swift looked comfortable this week after trading in his football career for life as a full-time university student.
He's doing an undergraduate commerce degree at the University of WA and is eyeing a potential move into medicine, following in the footsteps of his doctor parents.
Relaxed and affable, Swift says he's never been happier having walked away from an AFL career that so many aspiring footballers hold as the ultimate dream.
As a teenager, it's a scenario he couldn't possibly have imagined.
"I grew up mad about sport in general,'' he said.
"I probably developed a specific passion for footy when I was going into high school. Every waking moment I devoted to playing footy and that's all I wanted to do.''
Until mid-way through last season. Swift finds it hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why he began to consider quitting football, but he knew something had changed.
"I just started thinking about it and then the more I started thinking about studying and where I wanted to go in that direction, the more passionate I got about it,'' he said.
Tom Swift in action last year against the Dockers. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow
"My best mates are really quite focused on their academic pursuits as well, and they're coming up to the end of their degrees now and going out in the workforce and doing different things. Seeing that I guess probably ignited a bit of passion.
"People say football's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and granted it is and very few people get the opportunity to experience that. But the way I look at it and a big thing I've learnt is that most things you do in life are once in a lifetime opportunities.''
Swift began quietly seeking the opinions of various people, including asking retired players about life after football and what it was like.
But he never let on that he was contemplating ending his stop-start career after just four seasons and 34 games until he dropped his bombshell in Worsfold's office.
"The people that most mattered to me were my family, my close friends and the people I've spent most of my life with,'' Swift said.
"I guess that was the final hurdle - the people I felt I was letting down. Getting over that guilt and just realising that everything is going to move on and it's all going to be rosy.''
Whether it was Bronx cheers on the field or vicious criticism in online blogs, Swift was fully aware he was a target for his club's own fans.
"It was very difficult at times. I went through different phases of trying to block it out completely and not read newspapers and not do this and that,'' he said.
"And then I went through a stage where I thought `well if it's out there I may as well hear it'.
Tom Swift with Beau Waters and Quinten Lynch after a Western Derby loss. Source: PerthNow
"I was going through those phases and not understanding why and I couldn't grasp it.''
When Swift walked the boundary during a match, it gave supporters the chance for more personal critiques, including advice to get rid of his sometimes distinctive hairstyles.
"It was probably valid at the time,'' he joked.
Swift's growing maturity eventually helped him put it all into perspective.
"You start to realise that it's not personal and people aren't out there to bring you down,'' he said.
"For a lot of people football is a release. I'm not going to criticise people for that because that's what football's there for. They've got the right to their opinion.''
West Coast assistant Scott Burns arrived at the club at the same time as an 18-year-old Swift and worked closely with him in his role as midfield coach.
Burns believes the way Swift handled the fan hostility showed an incredible mental toughness.
"There was probably times when he was a bit younger when it would have played on his mind, but towards the end there I think he saw it as a great learning experience and an opportunity that he wouldn't have had in any other profession to be able to deal with it,'' Burns said.
"He was fantastic in that regard and probably as strong as anyone I've ever seen, in terms of just concentrating on what he had to concentrate on and not get caught up in anything else.''
Tom Swift after being drafted by the Eagles in 2008. Source: PerthNow
Swift, whose courage and hardness was never in question, acknowledges both his kicking skills and decision making left something to be desired.
He believes two serious knee injuries as a teenager hampered the development of his kicking.
"I was in a pretty unique situation in that I came to an AFL club off virtually two years of not playing footy,'' he said.
"That's not an excuse at all, but those two years when 16 and 17-year-olds are playing three games of footy and training three times a week, that's a lot of practice to miss.
"I was a bit of an over-thinker at times, which probably didn't help me out. Just over-analysing things and taking things a bit too literally.
"If I had have kept playing, I think I would have been a better footballer and that's just that natural progression. There are very few players who are playing the best football of their career at 22.
"I've got no doubt that I'll have days in the future where I'll sort of think 'what if?' But I would never use the word regret. I don't regret what I've done and I don't think I'll ever regret what I've done.''
Tom Swift dives for the ball while playing for Claremont. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow
So did the harassment from his own fans play a part in forcing Swift from the game?
The former Christ Church Grammar School student offers a thoughtful answer, hinting it may have been an underlying factor.
"I can't deny that. From a conscious point of view no, but subconsciously maybe that was the thing that got my mind ticking and maybe that was the thing that made me think I had other options,'' he said.
"But it definitely wasn't something that was consciously on my mind. I'm really quite strong minded and if someone says you can't do something then you go out and do it and prove them wrong.
"That's always been a big part of my upbringing and who I am. You never just fold and give up.
"And that was the one perception I didn't want to come out of football with - that I didn't think I was good enough and that I didn't believe in myself and I gave up because it was all too hard.
"That was what made it so hard - because I didn't want people to have that perception. But you can't control what people think so I just realised that and I'm not even going to try to. I'm just going to go in the direction I want to go in.''
At the Eagles, Swift is remembered for what he brought to the club rather than what he didn't achieve.
"He thought he'd let us down a little bit due to the amount of time and effort that we put into him,'' Burns said.
"I think we've got a really professional training work ethic here, and he certainly added to that, but also maybe dragged one or two along to make the whole place better and certainly make our club better.
"Every time he did extra touch sessions, there'd be another two or three with him. He probably made a few others think that maybe they're not doing all they can to be as good as they can be.''
Swift, a dual premiership player with Claremont, is not playing football at any level but has found a new passion in surf lifesaving to complement his study.
Now a West Coast supporter rather than player, he's relishing seeing the game from a viewpoint that doesn't involve analysing structures and ball movement.
"I've been really enjoying watching footy lately. It's actually really nice to step back and watch it as a true supporter and not have to analyse it,'' he said.
"At the end of the day it's a job, it's a game, it's a form of entertainment. It's not life and death, it's not war, it's not these kind of things.
"Once you sort of realise that, you learn to move on with it and you learn to be a lot more at ease with yourself.''
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