It’s an honour to stand here representing my club, and to speak on behalf of the captains of all 18 AFL teams.

As we look forward to the start of the 2013 season I know how hard every player in the competition has worked over the past six months to prepare as well as they can for that first bounce of the ball.

There are about 700 players on AFL senior lists and every one of them has toughed it out during one of the hottest summers on record to be the best they can be this year.

They’ve all run gut-busting time trials in the scorching sun, they’ve kicked the ball thousands of times to be ready for round 1.

Every time I walk on to the field for the Swans this year, I’ll go out there with a huge amount of respect for our opposition.

I know when we line up against St Kilda that Nick Riewoldt has put in the hard yards and he’ll outwork most players on the field as he has been doing for the last decade.

I know that Joel Selwood will put his head over the ball and won’t shy away from any contest.

I know that Scott Pendlebury will run until he’s ready to drop and then he’ll run some more.

I know Gary Ablett will be doing what he has done since he was a teenager leading the way for his team.

And when I shake their hands after the game, I’ll know they’ve done whatever they had to do for their teams, that it’s been a tough but fair contest.

As we start this season it would be naïve of me to ignore the fact some people believe there is a shadow over sport in Australia.

I trust the authorities and senior administrators of all sports are doing whatever needs to be done.

We live in a highly competitive environment and it’s fine to challenge convention and push the boundaries to try to be better.

That’s what we do when we stay on the track doing extra skills work, when we try to run PBs every year when we spend more time on recovery.

But in the end, I believe that hard work is the only secret and it will always prevail.

At my club that’s what will drive me and that’s what will drive my team-mates every single day. 

And I trust that every other team is doing exactly the same thing.

We preach honesty. We tell players to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself in the way you train, the way you prepare and the way you play.

And if anyone is not doing the right thing, they will be weeded out of the system.

But that is rarely necessary.

There is so much that is good about our sport, and I’ve seen that ever since I started playing football as a young boy on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

Football has brought so much light to my own life.

The AFL football community I know is one where the values of fair play, mutual respect, reward for effort, and support for one another, are paramount.

In the last two years I’ve experienced extreme lows and extreme highs - from the loss of our baby daughter Luella to another pregnancy and the birth of Lolita and then the premiership last year.

I had such a range of emotions as I stood on the MCG after the final siren last September.

It was a massive high to know we had done it.

To share that elation with team-mates was a very special moment for me - remembering what we had been through, but also celebrating what had been achieved.

And it brought home to me that, as terrible as things can be, over time they do get better.

But that couldn’t have happened without the amazing support that I received from so many people not only at my own club, but the entire AFL community.

I was touched by so many things and by so many good people.

The Geelong players wearing black armbands just after Luella died, messages of support from players at other clubs, and the hundreds of well wishes I received from ordinary fans of all teams.

If anyone is questioning whether their kids should play footy after all that has gone on recently in the world of sport, I can only say the vast bulk of footballers and football people are quality individuals with values I admire.

What I’ve learned during the past two years is that in the hard times - your team-mates are your brothers, your club’s supporters are like family and your peers at other clubs are your friends.

Football and its people envelop you, embrace you, and help you stay strong.

My club, and the game, mean so much to me as I’m sure they do for all the other captains.

We must hold true to the same core values of honesty, hard work, fair play, and respect for others on and off the field.

At our club, we’re not just Swans when we’re wearing the red and white - I’m a Swans player throughout my whole life in everything I do.

I take that responsibility very seriously and along with the other leaders at the Swans I will continue to push my team-mates in this area throughout 2013 and beyond.

Who knows where it will take us, but we’ll rest knowing that everything we do has strong foundations.

To all in the AFL community I want to wish you all the best for the year ahead. It promises to be a cracker of a season. Hopefully we will see you in September.