John Todd becomes Hall of Fame Immortal

What John Todd did for Swan Districts not only as a four-time WAFL premiership winning coach, but being at the forefront of securing the club's survival at the start of this century means he's a lock to become an Immortal in the Hall of Fame.

Todd is already in the Swan Districts Football Club Hall of Fame, and rightfully so for what he did coaching the black-and-whites in three separate stints.

That began in 1977 when he started the process of building Swans back up and that saw them make a Grand Final in 1980, a preliminary final in 1981 and then breakthrough for a stunning premiership hat-trick across 1982-83-84.

Todd was far from done with his time at Swan Districts and returned in 1990 to achieve immediate success as he was back to the WAFL on the back of two years coaching the West Coast Eagles in the VFL.

Todd took Swan Districts from a fifth place finish in 1989 to winning a premiership in 1990 before remaining at the helm up until the end of 1994 where he departed following another fifth place finish to take up the reins at South Fremantle, and more premiership success came his way.

After that stint at South Fremantle which ended following the 1998 season, Todd had a year out of the WAFL but then was back at Swan Districts with the club virtually on its knees and fighting for survival.

The same on-field success didn’t eventuate and wasn’t realistically possible over the next three years. But what Todd did to return was the ultimate selfless act and it's not a stretch to say Swan Districts might still not be in existence to this day if he hadn’t done that.

All in all, Todd coached Swan Districts in 417 games for a 217-200 record including the premierships of 1982, 83, 84 and 90 which has since seen him not only named the coach in the Swans' Team of the Century, but also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Now it's a natural for Todd to be elevated to Immortal status at the 2023 Hall of Fame for Swan Districts.

Upon reflection of his remarkable contributions as a coach to the Swan Districts Football Club, it's the period he was part of when he returned in 2000 that is right up there in terms of a source of pride as much as the premiership glory he took the club to.

"People don't understand that I could have been selfish and put recruiting ahead of the financial state Swans was in," Todd recalled.

"The situation was extremely bad and the club was at the lowest ebb. I only went back there to try to keep the club afloat as they were ready to close the doors.

"I felt that the champions of the past deserved to be remembered forever, but weren’t being preserved. So we revamped the club, I wasn’t overly concerned that we didn’t have much of a football team at that stage. It was about the survival of the club.

"Swans just couldn’t afford to go out and buy players, so sometimes you have to wear the brunt of it. I was quite happy to walk away with Swans still playing. With a club and with the help of the board, we did a lot of fundraising and I'm not unhappy with how that turned out."

Now not only have Swan Districts grown and thrived as a club since, but those legends he wanted having their legacies preserved are part of a Hall of Fame that he is now to become an Immortal of.

Together with the 6 new Inductees, will be officially recognised at the Hall of Fame Induction evening held at the club on Saturday 1^st July 2023. It’s an opportunity for supporters to meet the Swans royalty.  

Tickets cost $100 and includes complimentary drinks on arrival and dinner.

Tickets can be purchased here - https://www.trybooking.com/CGDXB