Daryn Cresswell

Daryn Cresswell
Personal information
Date of birth (1971-05-22) 22 May 1971 (age 53)
Original team(s) North Hobart
Draft No. 34, 1988 national draft
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1992–2003 Sydney Swans 244 (208)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2003.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Daryn Cresswell (born 22 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League, and the former senior coach of the Tasmanian Devils Football Club that played in the Victorian Football League. He is currently the Head Coach of the South Cairns Cutters.

Playing career

Cresswell started his football with Glenorchy in the Tasmanian Football League. He also briefly played for Geelong Reserves in the Victorian Football League. Daryn then returned to Tasmania to play with North Hobart in the TFL the following year. Daryn was then drafted to the Sydney Swans in the 1992 mid-season draft.

Cresswell played for the Swans for twelve seasons between 1992 and 2003, playing 244 games, the seventh-most games in Sydney and South Melbourne history.[1] He was a member of the Swans' losing 1996 Grand Final team and was named in both the Swans and Tasmanian Teams of the Century.[2] In 1993, in his second season, he won the Swans' most improved award; and, in the following season, he was awarded the Bob Skilton Medal as the Swans best for 1994.[3] In 1997, he dislocated his kneecap while laying a tackle, knocked it back into place immediately, and played again the next week. Other notable moments in Cresswell's career include a number of game-winning goals. Particularly, a kick after the siren from Creswell scored a goal and secured victory for Sydney over North Melbourne in Round 4 of the 2002 season.[4]

Statistics

[5]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1992 Sydney 28 8 4 14 100 56 156 23 1 0.5 1.8 12.5 7.0 19.5 2.9 0.1 0
1993 Sydney 28 18 29 15 224 83 307 75 18 1.6 0.8 12.4 4.6 17.1 4.2 1.0 0
1994 Sydney 28 21 15 13 275 152 427 84 26 0.7 0.6 13.1 7.2 20.3 4.0 1.2 3
1995 Sydney 8 22 17 13 306 201 507 111 24 0.8 0.6 13.9 9.1 23.0 5.0 1.1 3
1996 Sydney 8 24 11 22 363 161 524 106 56 0.5 0.9 15.1 6.7 21.8 4.4 2.3 3
1997 Sydney 8 23 16 14 367 244 611 71 32 0.7 0.6 16.0 10.6 26.6 3.1 1.4 6
1998 Sydney 8 24 21 13 375 264 639 85 15 0.9 0.5 15.6 11.0 26.6 3.5 0.6 13
1999 Sydney 8 23 18 11 352 284 636 98 26 0.8 0.5 15.3 12.3 27.7 4.3 1.1 7
2000 Sydney 8 22 23 11 364 202 566 108 31 1.0 0.5 16.5 9.2 25.7 4.9 1.4 11
2001 Sydney 8 18 16 12 237 115 352 77 31 0.9 0.7 13.2 6.4 19.6 4.3 1.7 8
2002 Sydney 8 22 17 15 277 223 500 81 48 0.8 0.7 12.6 10.1 22.7 3.7 2.2 2
2003 Sydney 8 19 21 6 217 159 376 91 31 1.1 0.3 11.4 8.4 19.8 4.8 1.6 5
Career 244 208 159 3457 2144 5601 1010 339 0.9 0.7 14.2 8.8 23.0 4.1 1.4 61

Coaching and post-football life

Following his retirement as a player, Cresswell became an assistant coach—firstly at Geelong and then at Brisbane. He then moved back to Tasmania and coached the Tasmanian Devils in the VFL following the resignation of Matthew Armstrong, where, after a number of poor performances and a scandal involving a six-figure debt he owed to Tassie Mariners coach Andrew Mellor, he fled Tasmania to England for some time.
Cresswell's brother Shane had coached Ulverstone (NTFL) to the premiership in 2000. In 2009, Cresswell was appointed player-coach of Division One Sydney AFL side the Manly Wolves. Despite a promising start to the season, numerous off-field issues (including being extradited to Queensland for fraud) and player discontent saw Cresswell sacked from the role at season's end. In April 2009, he was declared bankrupt, owing almost $700,000. He admitted that a gambling addiction had led him to lose everything after he retired from playing football. 2010 saw Cresswell sign with Sydney AFL Premier Division side Western Suburbs, kicking 33 goals in 10 matches.[2] In December 2010, Cresswell was found guilty of fraud offences and sentenced to a minimum 10 months jail. Upon release in October 2011, he appeared on Channel 7's Sunday Night, where he admitted to placing a $200 bet on a match he was playing in back in 2003.[6]

References

  1. ^ Swans alltime player list
  2. ^ a b Barrett, Damian (23 April 2009) Gambling addiction sees former Sydney Swans AFL player Daryn Cresswell declared bankrupt; Herald Sun
  3. ^ Swans Honour Roll Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Matt Abrahams 'The seven best goals kicked after the siren, The Roar, 19 May 2016 https://www.theroar.com.au/2016/05/20/seven-best-goals-kicked-siren/
  5. ^ Daryn Cresswell's player profile at AFL Tables
  6. ^ Gareth Trickey (8 July 2009) Former Sydney Swans Daryn Cresswell to face fraud counts; Herald Sun