Troy Schwarze

Australian rules footballer

Troy Schwarze (born 23 December 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He was recruited as the number 53 draft pick (traded by Carlton for Matthew Lappin and number 58, Ian Prendergast), in the 1998 AFL Draft from Dingley. At the time Schwarze was the youngest player on an AFL list at 17 years of age.

Schwarze made his debut for St Kilda in Round 4, 2000 against Melbourne and in his early seasons was a much maligned player. The turning point in Schwarze's career was in Round 6, 2004 against the Brisbane Lions where he kicked the match winning goal from 55 metres out in the last moments of the match at Telstra Dome. Schwarze played in St Kilda’s 2004 Wizard Home Loans Cup winning side St Kilda's second AFL Cup win. His brother, Ben Schwarze, was once also a St Kilda rookie, at the same time as Troy. Ben was delisted and picked up by the North Melbourne Football Club being a regular at the Kangaroos in 2006, but still being delisted at the end of the year. In 2006 Schwarze was a steady contributor to the Saints, playing many utility roles in defence and occasionally in attack. 2006 saw him used up forward, as was evidenced in the Round 4 game against Port Adelaide where he kicked 3 goals to spark a second half resurgence from the Saints. Schwarze then suffered a hamstring injury in Round 13 and did not return to the side for the remainder of the year. He was delisted by St Kilda at the end of 2006 and, despite some interest from Port Adelaide and the Saints themselves, was not picked up by any clubs in either the National or Internal drafts.

Schwarze was appointed the senior coach of the Sorrento Football Club in 2007.