Swan great leaving his mark on Endeavour

An AFL and Sydney Swans legend, Nick Davis heads up the Aussie rules coaching program at Endeavour Sports High. Glenn Cullen reports.

Image: Forward thinking: Endeavour Sports High's AFL head coach Nick Davis puts students through their drills.

Nick Davis knows a thing or two about doing a job on Geelong.

The former Sydney AFL forward, who is now head coach of Aussie rules at Endeavour Sports High School, was involved in one of the most iconic moments in Swans history when the side last clashed with the Cats in a final back in 2005.

Davis snapped four goals in an extraordinary final quarter to get Sydney over the line and into a preliminary final, his dying seconds’ kick handing the Swans a three-point lead and the win.

“I get reminded about that final a fair bit, but that’s not too bad considering I was on the right side of the result that night,” said Mr Davis, who’ll be cheering his team on in Melbourne on Saturday when they play Geelong in this year’s decider.

These days, Mr Davis parlays his 168-game career and life experiences into coaching, working with both Endeavour Sports and the Swans Academy.

Once very much down the pecking order of football codes in the state’s public schools, the code is thriving. Starting with 18 participants, Endeavour now has 40 Aussie rules players in the program, with a pretty even split between male and female participants.

They have sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays and also play matches against some of the other sports high schools in Sydney.

“In the Sutherland Shire where Endeavour is based, it’s a pretty big hub for the AFL community,” Mr Davis said.

“There’s lots of kids who have come here for the AFL aspect, and it is going to continue to grow.”

A number of the students double up with the Swans Academy and former student James Bell has played 28 games for the side since his debut in 2019.

“Nick has been instrumental in the success of the Targeted Sports Program for AFL here,” Endeavour Sports High School sports director Dave Davids said.

“We have a fantastic partnership with the QBE Sydney Swans Academy that enables our students to access the best coaching, resources, technical development and learning in a multicultural environment that reflects the game.

“Nick’s professionalism, dedication, and passion for the game has seen our AFL girls make the finals of the state cup which is to be played in Canberra early next term.”


  • News
Return to top of page Back to top