Shane Crawford made it right through his AFL career without needing knee surgery. Then he signed on to Dancing With The Stars Australia.
“I played football for 16, 17 years and I pushed my body to the limit, but this was definitely a different type of fitness,” the former Hawthorn captain tells TV WEEK. “Not only that, backing up each day, especially as you get a bit older, your body doesn’t always want to do that. And I got a knee injury.”
Shane, who turns 50 on September 9, thinks it was the “lifting and twisting” that caused the damage.
“I was having a conversation with some of my old teammates and I had to tell them, ‘You wouldn’t believe it – I’ve hurt my knee dancing, and I’ve got to have an operation.’”
Knee injury aside, Shane loved the intense weeks of training with dance partner Ash-Leigh Hunter.
“I felt like I was being a professional again, just in a different sport,” he says.
In this week’s episode, Shane dances the samba, revealing his arms, but not his abs.
“I don’t have any these days,” he insists. “I’m like, ‘No-one wants to see your body. Keep your clothes on and just dance and try to be entertaining.’”
One of the reasons Shane signed on for Dancing With The Stars was to encourage his four sons with partner Olivia Anderson – Charlie, 18, Ben, 15, and 12-year-old twins Jack and Harry – to have a go and try different things. So what did they say when they saw him dancing on the show?
“It’s always a hold-your-breath moment,” Shane says. “It’s just a nod of the head, or a little smirk. That’s all I’ve got so far. As long as they’re smirking and giving a nod of approval, I’m happy with that.”
While filming the show, Shane spent a lot of time hanging out backstage with the other celebrities, including Home And Away star James Stewart. Having played Pharaoh in the 2022 Melbourne stage production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Shane asked James if there could be a role for him in Home And Away.
“I said to him, ‘Hey, I’m up for another challenge. Surely you could get me on as an AFL coach who goes to Summer Bay for some pre-season training or something? Come on, James!’” Shane remembers with a laugh.
“No, he was great. He would give feedback to all of us, how to really get into character. He was just awesome.”
Dancing With The Stars airs Sunday, 7pm on Channel Seven.
