AFL commentator and former Geelong and Port Adelaide player Dwayne Russell joined Hangin' Out this week, tackling a range of topics, spanning his debut fiction novel Killing for Sport, his days as a SANFL and VFL forward, and the infamous gameday ‘diet' that fuels his unique calling style.
His debut novel is set in European high society, and centres around one of Russell's many passions - art. Russell divulged an intriguing family lineage post-war, and a writing process that traversed two decades.
“My grandmother is German. She grew up on the Poland-Germany border during the Second World War, as a 16-17-year-old, in what was a pretty brutal time. About 15 years ago, I sat down with her and a tape recorder, and asked her for her story," Russell told Hangin Out.
“She got pregnant with my mother, post the war, to a Russian soldier…she was growing lettuces (sic) on a farm for the Russians. To cut a long story short, she struck up a friendship with a Russian soldier, got pregnant to the Russian soldier, who was going to get in trouble for getting one of the female workers pregnant. He had to get her out.
“He helped her get on a train to (the German city of) Dresden…from there, she basically had to walk her way to the West."
This story, among others, inspired the Euro-centric nature of the thrilling novel.
Russell's idiosyncratic calling style was also addressed in the hour-long chat, with the 60-year-old revealing his favourite type of player to commentate.
“Every team's got one or two; it doesn't matter if you're a top team or a bottom team. It's the guys who can take a mark, they're the ones. There's a lot of extraordinary goals kicked. But it's the guys who have the ability to take the greatest mark that's ever been taken," Russell added.
“It might be the Giants against the Power in front of just 8000 at Engie Stadium, but you know (Giants swingman) Harry Himmelberg could take the greatest mark of all time, at any given moment, so you have to be on.”
Russell credits an unfortunate lack of appropriate amenities at the AFL's first foray into China with his now regimented adherence to a high-sugar, high-caffeine intake before and during a given game. These preferences date back to his playing days with Port Adelaide in the SANFL, and Geelong in the VFL.
“It was coffee and the equivalent of Red Bull back then. I've overloaded on sugar for quite a while, and I used to lean on that as a player. There were no dietitians around back then to tell you that those stores deplete quite quickly," he said.
“I used to love pancakes on gameday. They dissolve pretty quickly in your stomach, unlike a steak. I used to go a seven stack at the local Pancake Parlour on the morning of a game.”
Now, a salad sandwich from Queenies in South Melbourne accompanies the cult figure to his calls, and an inordinate array of sugary and caffeinated foods and drinks fuel his high-energy calling style. It is commonplace for entire family blocks of caramello and peppermint chocolate to be washed down with energy drinks and multiple Coca-Colas in a given call.
Russell's style does, however, have its detractors, and with his Midday Madness talkback radio show, these detractors have a platform to voice their disapproval.
“The radio show gets about 300 texts a day. 40-45 calls. I read them all. Some of them on a Monday are pretty brutal, and some are brutal, but they're correct. I've got a thick skin, it's okay. But some people say nasty things just ‘cause they don't like you. That can annoy you for a minute or two, an hour at most,” he said.
Dream AFL Grand Final entertainment acts, sliding film and music references into his calls, and broadcasters he reveres are just some of the many other topics covered in the chat, which can be found below.
