The game-day visit from the sheriff that had Schwarz shaking

There was a scary moment in David Schwarz’s career which involved the Sheriff’s Office and a fraudulent cheque.

It came on the morning of the Qualifying Final against Carlton in 1994 and had Melbourne great Schwarz shaking in the aftermath.

The sheriff's department rocked up at his house looking for money he owed and all Schwarz could do was smile, nod and nervously sign a cheque... which he knew would bounce.

“I’ve got the hair on the back of the neck standing up right now,” Schwarz said on This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers when recalling the moment.

“I was really aloof when it came to paying fines and I was just hopeless with commitments, and someone had set me up.

“So I had the sheriffs come around to the house. It was about 9.30 in the morning and demanding over $8,000 that I owed in fines.

“I didn't have any money. I had some money, but I didn't have that sort of money. So I just wrote them out a cheque. I said, ‘Yep, here we go, alright, no worries’.

“I honestly thought I was going to be locked up.

“Anyway, I get to the game and I'm shaking and I didn't say anything to anyone. I came out and had a good game.”

Schwarz did go on to kick four goals from 17 disposals with seven marks in a surprise 27-point win over the Blues.

But he had to call on the club to intervene and pay off his debts for him - the first major lesson on the road to many more learnt during his journey of problem gambling.

“It was probably the first warning for me that I didn't have control of this, that these are the sorts of things that can bring you undone,” he added.

“I didn't adhere to it, I didn't respect it, and if I had have been half switched on, that would have been the moment that said, ‘Right, wake up, you've got a good footy career going here, you're going to earn good money’.

“‘Get off the punt and you'll be able to really sort through and finish off your career, and walk away from the game with something’.

“I’ve still got the cheque book butt in an old file there, because I knew that it would bounce. That was fraudulent.

“It was $8,500 and the club transferred it on Monday for me. And $8,500 back then, that was a lot of money.”

Listen to Sam Edmund's full chat with Schwarz below:

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