Warwick Capper might just be the youngest and craziest 60-year-old in Australia, but 60 he is … as of yesterday.

And despite being out of football for 32 years, the man who made long blonde hair, tight shorts, high-flying marks and occasional pink boots famous with the Sydney Swans in the 1980s remains a household name Australia-wide.

Living in suburban Balwyn in Melbourne with long-time partner Lisa – “we’ve been together down here for 17 years so I probably should marry her soon” – he hasn’t changed one iota from his heyday and is happily earning “5-10k a gig” on the public speaking and promotional circuit.

“I do 200 gigs a year and I’m going great … very happy and still doing great things … and the people still love me,” he said this week in typical showtime fashion.

That’s Capper. He’s all show, having made a name for himself and a more than comfortable living on the back of a 124-game career from 1983-91 that produced 388 goals and was better than he gets credit for.

Having kicked 103 goals in 1987, he ranks 108^th in all-time AFL goals, and among this group on an average basis only 22 averaged better than Capper’s 3.1 goals per game. And his Swans-only average of 3.5 goals per game puts him ahead of another five.

From the eastern Melbourne suburb of Huntingdale, Capper played his last AFL game in Dennis Carroll’s 200^th game for the Swans in Round 19, 1991, when Carroll earned three Brownlow Medal votes in a seven-point win over Richmond at the SCG. But he’s never been far from the spotlight.

Much smarter than the persona he happily portrays, and a genuinely nice bloke, Capper had some interesting reflections on his career, which took in 77 games with the Swans from 1983-87, 34 games with the Brisbane Bears from 1988-90, and 13 games back at the Swans in ’91. He said:

- He always wanted to play for Richmond and is a Richmond fan these days but rationalises that it was better playing for the two privately-owned clubs under Dr Geoffrey Edelsten (Sydney) and Christopher Skase (Brisbane) because there was more exposure.

- As much as his move to Brisbane didn’t work out from a football perspective, he has no regrets. “They used me, and I used them,” he said. “And I set it up for big Jono Brown to go to Brisbane and win three flags”.

Reflecting more seriously on his career, he said: “I was a little different, but I was lucky enough to play at two good clubs and I’m proud of what I achieved,” he said.

Fair enough. He was runner-up in the Coleman Medal in the 1986 and 1987 and is one of just 27 players among more than 13,000 in AFL history to kick 100 goals in a season.

Having moved back to Melbourne 10 years ago to look after his ailing father Walter, who had played football in the Ovens and Murray League with the great Lou Richards and passed away in 2021, Capper celebrated his mother Nancy’s 91^st birthday last week.

Now he’s looking forward to his own belated 60^th party in Melbourne on 15 July, with Sam Newman, Wayne Carey, Matthew Richardson and Anthony Koutoufides among a raft of big names on the 300-person guest list, while Shannon Noll, Brian Mannix, and bands Boom Crash Opera and Taxiride will provide the entertainment.

The one-time teenage idol, who played drums in a band 10 years ago, will also perform with Noll, with whom he also shares some racing interests.

Capper said he had to postpone the party due to a TV engagement which was subsequently cancelled “because they didn’t pay me enough.” Why? “I asked what Shane Warne got and said I want that too.”

Capper proudly says he does a lot of charity and fund-raising work these days and has his own podcast with long-time mate Tony Marks on which they discuss sport, music and popular culture with a range of celebrity guests. It’s called ‘T-Wiz Podcast.

Capper is happy just to get to 60 after a major health scare two years ago, when he was rushed to hospital with a burst appendix. “I was lucky Lisa was there to get me there. I should have gone earlier but because I’m used to pain I gutsed it out a bit longer.

“(The doctors) said I could have got septicaemia because my appendix burst and the infection could have got into my bloodstream …. they said it was touch and go for a bit.”

But it was always going to take more than a little blood disorder to knock over ‘Wiz’!!