SYDNEY Swans forward Michael O’Loughlin says the prospect of giving his family a better life was the only thing that stopped him leaving Sydney early in his career.

The 32-year-old announced on Tuesday that he would retire at the end of the 2009 season, having already played 293 games for the club.

However, the Swans’ games record holder said his stay at the club would have been much shorter, had he got his own way in the mid ’90s.

“Coming in, I didn’t think I’d stay here for that long. I’d ring mum and say; ‘I want to come home, I want to come home’,” O’Loughlin recalled.

“She said; ‘There’s nothing here for you. Stay there’, and I said; ‘No, I’m getting on a plane’, and she said; ‘Well, you haven’t got a bed. I gave it to your cousin’. I had no bed to go back to, so I had to stay.”

Tears welled up in the eyes of the two-time All-Australian and 2005 premiership player as he described his mother Muriel's influence on his career.

“She’s so strong and tough. We didn’t have much but she made sure we were clothed and fed… and loved. That was probably one of the main things, was to make her proud,” O’Loughlin said.

“Some guys come to play to be recognised and some guys play for money but I came, with the opportunity that the Swans gave me, to play and help my family to live a better life and I think, hopefully, I’ve done that.”

Having assisted his family, O’Loughlin said he would turn his attention to helping Australia’s wider indigenous community after hanging his boots up at the end of the season.

He intended to remain in Sydney to continue his work with programs to improve indigenous health. 

“I’ve got a few things that I’ve got going on away from footy, some stuff that I’ve already been doing for 10 or 12 years with indigenous communities,” he said.

“It’s something that I’m very, very passionate about and I’ll definitely head that way.

“That’s my duty and that’s my role and that’s what I have to do – to help the indigenous people of this country lead better lives.

“We can go on and talk a little bit of politics but the health situation and stuff like that, that’s where I see myself heading and hopefully helping little kids out with that. It’s something that I’ve already been doing for a long, long, long time.”