DARYN CRESSWELL

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Born on the 22nd May 1971, Daryn Cresswell made his AFL debut in 1992 after being recruited from North Hobart.
He struggled to find his best form at the start of the 2001 season, then showed again why he is rated one of the best midfielders in the AFL.
For the sixth time in seven seasons, he finished in the top three in the Sydney Swan's best and fairest, once again leading the club kicks and handballs' lists.
Cresswell's toughness is legendary as his work ethic.
He can win the ball both in the clinches or in space making him difficult if not impossible to tag.

Daryn Cresswell playing for North Hobart.	Sydney midfielder Darren Cresswell prepares to send the ball forward
The Kangaroos' Adam Simpson kicks in front of Swans' Daryn Cresswell.	Daryn Cresswell celebrates after kicking the winning goal after the siren

 

Daryn Cresswell is a ballwinning machine who relentlessly puts himself into contests, feeding the ball out to his running teammates. He remains one of the hardest workers off the field as well as on it.

Player honors: best and fairest 1994; 2nd best and fairest 1997, 1998, 1999; 3rd best and fairest 1996, 2000; All-Australian 1997.

Brownlow Medal: 2000 votes (11); career votes (46).

 

In Round  2002 against the Kangaroos Daryn Cresswell sealed the game with a kick for goal after the siren. After four gruelling quarters of attrition between Sydney and the Kangaroos, it all came down to umpire Gavin Dore’s decision to award a free kick against Shannon Motlop for high contact on Cresswell.
Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren. His sausage roll split the uprights from 35 earning the Swans four points and leaving the Roos empty handed.

For his part, Cresswell couldn’t remember what the free kick was for, nor did he hear the siren.

“Adrenaline was running pretty high but I think he grabbed me around the throat. I remember I got the free kick and thought there wasn’t much longer to go. The umpire then said I couldn’t play on so I assumed the siren had sounded."

Later Cresswell admitted he did play for the free after he looked up and saw 30-minutes had passed.
“I knew it was coming towards the end of the game so I might have played for it, experience tells you you have to play free kicks in the situations like that. So I was just concentrating on my routine and I knew the result would look after itself then."

His coach, Rodney Eade admitted he did see the incident but had trouble watching as Cresswell took the kick from the right forward pocket on a difficult angle.

“He’s not the most reliable, Daryn, but having said that there was a voice of positivity from a couple match committee members. I must give Daryn his due he has done that in the past to win games but I must admit I couldn’t look.”

Daryn Cresswell retired at the end of the 2003 season and is now assistant coach at Geelong.
He amassed 235 games and kicked 202 goals in a 10 year career at the top level.

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Daryn Cresswell - A Tasmanian Football Legend