Dane Rampe announced his retirement from the AFL and the Sydney Swans on Friday morning. Speaking to members of the media, friends, family, past and current AFL and AFLW players and Sydney Swans staff, Rampe talked about his career, the lessons he has learnt, his challenges with adversity and hardship and the overwhelming feeling of gratitude and pride as he leaves the red and white.  

Rampe said that heading into the 2026 season, retirement was on the cards. 

“I probably knew at this time last year that it was going to be my last year. I probably didn't put that out into the world because I wanted to focus all my time and energy into having a crack at the end of the year,” Rampe said. 

“I felt like we had the team, and I guess we were at a stage of our evolution and journey as a team that I felt like we were going to be challenging.” 

He said he had felt nothing but support from senior coach Dean Cox and Executive General Manager Leon Cameron in making his decision. 

“I thought Leon and Coxy handled it perfectly, they kind of let me do my things in my own time, and I think what was really powerful about the way Dean kind of posed questions to me was that he didn't put pressure on me to make a decision or have an answer of which way he sat,” Rampe said. 

“He kind of politely reflected the way my actions and behaviours, I guess, personally in terms of performance sense were reflecting where I was at in my career, which was that it was starting to get a little bit too hard. I was starting to ask for a little bit more time off. I couldn't quite give the 100% that made me Dane Rampe, the Swans player.  

“I thank him wholeheartedly for that. I'm grateful for his, I guess, the way he delicately posed that to me because it was something I needed to hear and it was something that, given the emotions of the back end of the season, was hard for me to.”  

Reflecting on his final year in the red and white, Rampe said that the wins he experienced at the end of 2026 were some of the best he has experienced. 

“I mean, that's one of, I guess, the short-term impacts of experiencing some of the positives that have come from such a horrible situation is seeing the club, its fans, our staff rally together for something that was bigger than football, and they were up there with my best wins, probably if not the best wins that I've been part of,” Rampe said.   

“I got to experience, I feel like, a couple of seasons' worth of chaos, pride, humiliation, and excitement all within a couple of weeks, and to have that at the end of my career is an absolute luxury.” 

When asked about the culture of the Club following the end of the season Rampe said he was at peace with where it sits. 

“I think the culture sits where it needs to be, and that is, you know, with some question marks, but I guess what I've learnt, and I guess what I've helped teach some of the boys is our culture's built on radical transparency with each other, but then, radical self-ownership as well,” Rampe said. 

“The way the season finished forced us all to hold a mirror up to ourselves, and I think it'd be ignorant or naive of us to think that we haven't all played a small part in getting to – I'm not saying – I should clarify, when I speak about the events, it's the lead-up to what's happened, and there was what happened within the room or at the hotel I've got no idea about, but I think in getting to where we were, we all play a role in that, and I think what that's done is caused certainly myself to reflect and ask questions of myself and my teammates and, based on my preliminary chats with the boys, it's obviously been emotional, but now that the dust has settled a little bit, I'm so confident with the group that we've got and the leadership we've got led by Callum [Mills], [Dean] Coxy, Matt Pavlich now and I'm completely at peace with where the club sits.” 

Rampe said he was confident the right conversations would continue to be had. 

“Does that mean that we're not going to be having robust conversations? Absolutely not,” Rampe said. 

“In fact, I hope to hear that they are having challenging conversations going forward and that the media is reporting difficult conversations.  

“That's a sign of a healthy club, a healthy culture, and I urge and implore the boys and the rest of the club to lean into that because that's what's made us the club that we are, and that's what's going to catapult us into the next stage of where we want to get to.”  

Rampe said finishing his career without a grand final victory was painful, but some of the best relationships and experiences had occurred as a result. 

“As a competitor, as a player, I'm devastated [ to not have won a Grand Final], but as a person, as a mentor, as a leader, as a friend, as a teammate, I'm so at peace and, again, like there has been so much beauty for me to come from not having won a Grand Final,” Rampe said. 

“I mean, the places you go to, the embarrassment, the humiliation are all just opportunities in which I've had to, like, explore myself a little bit more and, I guess, explore our team environment. There’s been so many things that I wouldn't change for the world that have come on the back of Grand Final losses. 

“I think the most obvious one would be some of the relationships I've had. I told the boys probably before both of the Grand Finals, like, if we win this one, I'm done, and that was definitely a place because I felt at the time, if I'd won one, it's like, all right, my work here is done, this is all I needed to go forward.  

“But what that would have robbed me would have been a relationship with Brodie Grundy that I wouldn't change for the world, a relationship with Charlie Curnow and his partner Tiana that I wouldn't change for any premiership.” 

Rampe said playing and leading the Club was indescribable. 

“I don't know if I can quite put into words, and I feel like it would be crass of me to try and articulate it because it's more of a feeling than a way I can describe it,” Rampe said. 

“I grew up watching the club in the stands and there have been moments over the last few weeks where you think that little boy would be bloody proud and to be able to do that for 289 games was an absolute luxury. 

“To be able to lead the club and to have walked in the shoes of people that I looked up to, Adam Goodes, Jared McVay, Paul Kelly, Jude Bolton. I've got to pinch myself, and I've had, thankfully, some moments to do that over the past couple of weeks, and I'm sure I'll have more time. I'm going to make sure I take more time to reflect on that exact thing.” 

When asked about what lies next for him, Rampe said he was in no rush to make that decision and looks forward to having some time to rest and reflect upon his time in the red and white. 

“Honest answer is I don't know quite yet, if you did ask me a few weeks ago, I would have gone, I need some time from this place and this game,” Rampe said. 

“But as I said, like, the dust settles, and you start to realise that it's like, I can't wait to be on the other side of the stands.” 

When asked about the confidence he has in the side to perform once again next year and go closer to the elusive 11th premiership, Rampe said it was part of what made his call to retire so hard. 

“Absolutely, and again, these are all the things that make the decision hard because again, who's to say that what happened has opened Pandora's box in terms of what we are capable of, because we got exposed to a new way of thinking and playing and investing in each other and investing wholeheartedly in a selfless team-first approach,” Rampe said. 

“These are the things you wouldn't have been afforded that luxury without the circumstances because you're relying on maybe some players that would get you over the line through some incredible individual acts. 

“What I guess will be the challenge for the boys is like, how do we reintegrate these players in a professional sense but not at the expense of what we're able to uncover and achieve ourselves.” 

When asked about his finest achievement and career highlights, Rampe said the relationships he’d built was the clear front runner. 

“Without doubt, the relationships I've built, on the field, there's been some incredible wins, but the wins that mean the most are the ones in which we've had to find something from a deeper place than just performance,” Rampe said. 

“When Adam Goodes took time off in 2015, the club rallied. We had an incredible win down at Geelong when Kieran Jack was facing some personal hardships. Obviously, the last couple of weeks of the season when the club was just on its knees essentially, and we needed to fight. We needed to fight not only for the club, but for ourselves and for a culture and reputation that we've taken so long to build. 

“That's what makes me most proud, and that's what makes me so confident in where the club's at, is that we have just got a bank of evidence to suggest that, yes, we're kind of not where we want to be at the moment, and we've got a lot to prove, but we can do it, and we will do it.”