Daryn Cresswell

Daryn Cresswell
Daryn Cresswell
Personal information
Date of birth	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
1992–2003	Sydney Swans
	1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2003.
Career highlights
	All-Australian 1997; Sydney Swans best and fairest 1994; Sydney Swans Team of the Century (interchange);
	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
Season	Team	No.	Games	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	Votes
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]