Wayne Schwass

Wayne Schwass's Biography

Since capturing Australia’s attention as one of the most successful football players in AFL history, Wayne Schwass has gone on to make a name for himself in more ways than one.

Born in New Zealand and raised in Warrnambool, Western Victoria, Wayne Schwass began playing Aussie Rules football at the age of ten. But with is his undeniable talent and passion, it was not long before he was recruited to join the AFL— so in 1986, Wayne began playing for the North Melbourne Football Club.

From here, Wayne went from strength to strength, quickly becoming one of the most highly-rated players in AFL history.  Over 14 years Wayne played 282 games at the elite level, both with the North Melbourne Football Club (1988-1997) and the Sydney Swans (1998-2002).   During his outstanding career Wayne won 3 Best and Fairest’s at the NMFC, he was a premiership player with NMFC in 1996, All-Australian in 1999 and part of the NMFC Team of the Century and inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Since retiring in 2002, Wayne has established himself as a highly respected AFL broadcaster on TV, radio, print and online. However, in addition to his work within the sporting world, Wayne has also become a passionate and leading advocate for mental health awareness.

In 2017 Wayne founded PukaUp a social enterprise focusing on mental health, emotional wellbeing and, importantly, suicide prevention. According to Wayne, the PukaUp vision is to ‘create the environments for every person to have authentic and genuine conversations about mental health and emotional wellbeing'.

Wayne delivers powerful and honest keynote speeches at countless mental health seminars and workshops, where his message never fails to resonate with audiences.

In 2019 saw Wayne finish up as part of the Triple M AFL commentary Team and as host of ‘Off the Bench TV”.  Wayne is focusing up on eliminating the stigma of Men’s Mental Health

Wayne is a versatile and motivating Keynote Speaker and Master of Ceremonies.

Speaking Topics Include

Wayne’s candid, honest and inspiring story about his 14 year struggle with depression and his road to recovery, covers the following

• Depression is an illness that doesn’t discriminate
• How depression invaded every aspect and area of his life and the impact this had on his health, well-being, performance, enjoyment and quality of life
• Watching the colour fade from his life, living in a heavy fog and accepting his disease had taken control of his mind
• How he managed to hide his illness from his family, friends, team mates, football club and the general public for 14 years and the impact this had on his quality of life
• How he managed to play 282 AFL Games, win 3 Best & Fairest Awards, play in a Premiership side, win All Australian Selection, represent his State and be awarded AFL & North Melbourne Football Club Life Membership all while battling clinical depression
• Why he considered an option with irreversible consequences to escape the pain and suffering, why and how he chose to keep fighting
• Why he self-medicated for 14 years
• Why he chose not to seek help and the impact this had on his recovery and relationships
• The importance of your support network and how 2 key people in his life played a critical role in saving his life
• The role of carers and professionals and their importance in your recovery
• Learning new skills
• Why he believes the Stigma associated with mental illness is out-dated, uneducated and totally unacceptable
• Why he believes mental illnesses are a bigger threat to our communities than the road toll
• How he began to reclaim control of his life and the long road back to health and wellbeing
• How he lived in denial until his light bulb moment
• The importance of your own emotional health and wellbeing
• Understanding, education, acceptance and learning to like/ love yourself again
• What we can do individually and as a community to help those people living with mental illnesses
• Why it’s a shared responsibility
• The gap between all general health illnesses and mental illness and why this gap needs to be closed urgently
• Life after depression and how Wayne turned his own experiences into a vehicle which had a profound impact on the lives of others
• His passion for mental health and commitment to continue to bring mental illnesses into main stream Australia

Wayne’s Motivational Sales keynote includes:

• Key to success
• Skill set
• Strategy and why you must have a road map to achieve success
• Goal setting and why this is vital in your pursuit of success
• If you don’t plan for success you’re planning for failure
• Overcoming obstacles and objections
• Overcoming the fear of being rejected
• Coping with pressure
• Mindset and attitude
• Difference between a job and a career
• What elite sport taught me and what skills did I transfer into my post football careers & why
• Owning your career, performance and ultimate success or failure
• Go looking for feedback, positive, negative and constructive and why this is important
• Understanding your selling profile and being able to recognise the buyers profile
• Why products, product knowledge, expertise and experience aren’t the most important assets to selling
• Your ability to develop and maintain relationships with multiple stakeholders at different levels is the key to success and why
• Your individual brand and why it’s never been more important in selling
• What’s your value proposition – why should people buy from me
• Identifying, investigating and understanding opportunities before you even meet the customer and pitch
• How to become a trusted advisor
• Team work
• Leveraging the power and reach of social media into your daily activities for achieving success