The 2011 Brownlow medallist opened up on life in the footy fishbowl in his newly-published autobiography My Story, lamenting the scrutiny that now comes with playing the league.

“The game is such a brutal industry now, and so much bigger than when I first started,” Swan told Inside Sport.

“Even at the club, it’s all about winning and losing, and who can get the most sponsorship. So all the fun things like Mad Mondays and footy trips, having a beer after games, clubs frown upon those things now.

“I certainly understand why, because it’s such a big business and clubs don’t want to lose their sponsorship dollars. But the fun has gone out of the game a little bit, which is disappointing.”

The book opens on Swan’s last appearance on an AFL field, back in round one this year, when he broke his foot and tore the Lisfranc ligament – as he interestingly notes in the book, the ligament is named for a Napoleonic-era surgeon – which brought his 15-year tenure in football to a prompt conclusion.

Swan is content that the end came now rather than the beginning. “I would never last in AFL football if I was starting now, not with all the restrictions and rules and orders that are put in place,” he writes.