Andrew Donohue received a shock while enjoying himself at the Tamworth Swans 25 Year Ball when photos of the former ruckman appeared on the big screen at Wests.
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"I thought, 'what's going on here'," Donohue, better known around the club as Tassie, recalled.
The shock would only amplify by the end of the presentation when it was revealed Donohue had become the club's seventh life member.
He joins Veronica Griffiths, Dean Finlay, Paul Kelly, Josh McKenzie, Damien Wendt and Gavin Knee who have all been given the honour.
All of the Swans' life members were in attendance to celebrate the club's 25th anniversary and in turn made Donohue's night all the more special.
"It was pretty awesome to be up there with them," Donohue said of his fellow life members.
The Tasmanian native linked up with the Swans in 2006 and went on to play over 100 games with the club but it almost never was.
The current Swans women's coach came to town in 2005 for work - just eight weeks of it to be exact.
"Four weeks before Christmas and four weeks after," Donohue said.
An extension of that work ended up keeping Donohue in Tamworth before he had a chance encounter with some Swannies in 2006.
Following a bus trip, he bumped into some of the players at the Central Hotel.
Donohue was asked if he was keen for a kick. The following week he played his first game against the Tamworth Kangaroos.
He instantly saw similarities between the Swans club and Bracknell Redlegs Football Club who we played for in Tasmania.
"I'm 2000 kilometres from home and to still play in red and white, that was pretty good. There's very similar cultures within the clubs," Donohue said.
"Very family-orientated and it was pretty much like playing with the boys back home, really."
Along with playing over 100 games for the Swans, Donohue has won two premierships in 2006 and 2009, coached the men's team from 2013-2015 and helped put together the women's side alongside partner Nathalie Joice in 2019.
Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
