Meet the Riordans: Shepparton Swans’ understated power couple

That drive has led this duo to finding success in basically every sense of the word at Shepparton Swans: premierships, personal accolades, friendships, love and family; it has achieved it all.

The joint resumé of Andrew and Jana Riordan from their time at Princess Park alone is impressive reading.

Andrew was part of the Swans’ last senior football premiership in 2014 — they celebrated their premiership reunion earlier this year.

Previously referred to as “one of the club’s favourite sons” by Swans president Jarrod Sutherland, Andrew is set to play his 150th game for the club on Saturday afternoon against Euroa.

When reflecting on his time in red and white, Andrew fondly remembered that special day for the club in 2014.

“It’s a bit of a blur,” Andrew said.

“It was a really windy day.

“We knew we were capable of beating them (Benalla); things just had to go our way, which they did.

“That was great to beat an undefeated team like Benalla — such a great team — and to beat them by three points has clearly been the highlight of my journey.”

Growing up, Andrew played his junior and three years of senior football for Katandra, collecting many accolades before moving to the Grovedale Tigers in Geelong Football Netball League.

After three seasons plying his trade for the yellow and black down near the Surf Coast, Andrew knew it was time to come home and signed with the Swans.

Andrew and the Swans soon found team success in the form of the 2014 Goulburn Valley League flag, but since then, the on-field success has dried up for the senior side at Princess Park.

From 2017-19, the Swans won a hat-trick of wooden spoons.

The club has not found much luck off the field either, with the recent floods that crippled the region impacting the Swans heavily at Princess Park, with the clubrooms, change rooms and more left unusable after the floods.

However, post-floods and the global pandemic, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting ever brighter for the Swans, with Andrew emphasising his excitement about the young talent filling the makeshift change rooms at Princess Park.

“It’s been a good feeling (at the club); we won on the weekend, which we figured out was the first time we had won two games in a row since 2016,” he said.

“It has been a struggle for a long time, but we know we are on the improve and our team can match it with most teams if we play to our potential.

“There is excitement this season knowing that every game is a winnable game.

“We haven’t dropped the bundle at all as a group, we are still pushing hard.

“In a way (the struggle of the past eight years) has brought us to be stronger and tighter as a club and I think there are great things coming for the club in footy, netball and juniors, the lot — I don’t want to miss out on it.”

During the past decade, the Swans’ senior players and their coaches have had plenty of reasons to lose their heads; in 2024, it would be for missed opportunities.

The club has lost five senior football games — three against sides that will play finals — this season by less than a goal; if they had won half of those, they would have been nearly certain to feature in finals for the first time since 2016.

However, as Andrew said, the club has been through enough hardship in the past decade to know not to drop its head in self-pity.

Instead, the Swans have kept fighting and have won their past two games, keeping the door ajar for a late finals surge.

As solid as ever in the backline, Andrew has again produced a season acting as a general in the Swans’ defence averaging 17.2 disposals (at 75 per cent efficiency), 7.4 intercept possessions and 4.8 one percenters a game — the textbook defender.

After many seasons playing across a handful of leagues, Andrew said that the hunger and competitive drive still ran deep in his veins.

“I’ve always got in the back of my mind, ‘You’re a long time retired’, so I don’t want to have a regret of not giving it my all,” he said.

“I have had my fair share of injuries, particularly in my late 20s, but I have been feeling pretty good lately and I just want to get the most out of my body.

“I enjoy the challenge of it and playing with a lot of young guys in our team it helps keep you young.”

While his talent, leadership and character are highly respected within the club, Andrew said the same could be said about his wife and fellow Swans legend Jana.

“(What Jana means to the club) is huge; she might not admit it, but she has been a driving force, in my opinion, for the netball for a long time,” he said.

“She will do whatever they want her to do.

“Her knowledge, skill and presence is hard to top.”

Jana has been a key part of the Swans since she arrived as a 16-year-old in the early 2000s.

Having recently ticked over 250 Goulburn Valley League netball games, like Andrew, Jana has done it all in the red and white.

A B-grade premiership in 2012, followed by an A-grade flag in 2013 (as a player-coach), GVL interleague player, A-grade coach, committee member and coaching co-ordinator — the list of what Jana has achieved at the Swans goes on and on.

But what keeps Jana so heavily invested in the club?

The gun centre believes a range of reasons have kept her eager to put on the red and white dress each weekend.

“As a junior, it was about pushing yourself to be the best netballer you can be and exposing yourself to that really high level of netball,” Jana said.

“When I returned from university, it was about reconnecting with some good friends and I spent a lot of fun years here with friends; the netball was probably a bonus to that.

“As I have got older, met Andrew and had a family, it’s been a great community connection.

“Across all of (those years), the Swans has been a really great community.”

Jana celebrated her two decades as a Swan with a win against Rochester in her 250th game a month ago — the Swans sit on the precipice of finals in seventh spot with five rounds to go.

Although the two premierships are clear highlights during her time at Princess Park, Jana said the relationships she had built with players in her team had been equally special.

“Around those years (2010s), there were lots of premiership losses, and even though they are a loss, they are still special times,” she said.

“I have gone on to play with lots of girls that have come up through our junior ranks who I have said, ‘I will never get to play with you’.

“Niamh Thorn and Harriet Gall, I think I have known them both since they were about 11, so to take the court with them both is pretty special.”

Jana believes she has an affinity for leadership roles and the Swans would be thankful that she does, given how much she has given back to the club through her various positions.

Through the tough — sometimes dark — moments for the Swans during the past eight years, Jana believes the club’s sense of community connection and strength has been on show for all to see.

“Resilience and adaptability would be two keywords (to describe the club), and that sense of community really shines because lots of people have stepped up and have been doing extra and making sure we can get the teams out,” she said.

Jana has been coaching at the Swans for more than a decade, this year coaching the A-grade team alongside Kate Betson.

Outside of the club, Jana runs her own osteopath practice, Keep Active Osteopathy, in the centre of Shepparton.

A few years back, Jana ruptured her Achilles tendon while playing netball.

The gun netballer said this helped give her a greater perspective on what her clients go through during a long-term injury.

“I always said if I did a major injury, that was me done,” she said.

“Then, when I did it, I felt like that was not how I wanted to end my netball career.

“You can really empathise with people’s journeys when they get injured.

“As a sports person, all you want to do is sport, train, play, be connected with the group and it is really hard when you are disconnected and not able to move.

“It definitely has helped me in a work sense, not sure if it has helped me on the netball court, but I did manage to get back out there.”

Jana and Andrew met when the latter arrived at the club in 2013.

Eleven years on and the couple has well and truly become the power couple of the club — even if they are too humble to admit it — both on and off the field, with Andrew following in Jana’s footsteps and coaching the senior football side in previous years.

The Riordans’ binding connection with Shepparton Swans Football Netball Club doesn’t appear to be dissipating any time soon, with the pair’s children, Patrick (4) and Hazel (2), already a part of the club’s furniture.

“Now we have our two kids; his parents or my parents usually come and help, but if they can’t, the netball girls are happy to help,” she said.

“We know so many people (through the club), it’s really lovely for both of us to be supported to still play.

“A challenge at times, but still nice.”