Sydney Swans champion Dane Rampe has called time on his AFL career after 289 games.
The club announced the veteran defender’s retirement on Friday after more than a decade playing at the highest level.
“Sydney Swans champion Dane Rampe has announced his retirement from the AFL,” the club said in a statement.
“This brings the curtain down on an extraordinary 14-season career that saw him become one of the most respected and decorated players in the Club’s history.
“Drafted with pick 37 in the 2012 Rookie Draft, Rampe made his AFL debut in Round 1, 2013 and would go on to play 289 games in the red and white, the seventh-most by any player in South Melbourne/Sydney Swans history.”
Speaking on the “incredibly hard decision”, Rampe said he had “nothing left to give”.
“I grew up dreaming of wearing the red and white,” Rampe said
“The Sydney Swans felt like home long before I ever walked through the door, and to have not only played for this club, but to have led it, has been perhaps the greatest privilege of my life.
“This has been an incredibly hard decision to make. I have given every part of my heart and soul to this place, and as much as I wish it were otherwise, I simply have nothing left to give. I share this not from a place of exhaustion or defeat, but from one of overwhelming pride and gratitude.”
During his career, Rampe established himself as one of Sydney’s ”most respected and decorated players in the club’s history” having co-captained the club from 2019 to 2023, being named in the All-Australian team in 2016 and winning the Bob Skilton medial in 2019.
