WA football legend Gary Buckenara has told of the emotional turmoil that once nearly cost him his life as he prepares to receive one of WA sport’s highest honours.

The West Australian can today reveal that Buckenara will be inducted this month into the WA Hall of Champions for a career that included a raft of State of Origin heroics and four VFL premierships with Hawthorn.

But after he was left broke at the end of his Hawks career by player management conmen — as well as the fallout from a Supreme Court decision that stopped him becoming West Coast’s inaugural vice-captain — being sacked as Sydney coach in 1993 took him to a new low.

“I’d lost all my footy money through a manager who ripped me off and basically all of my career was for nothing, money-wise,” Buckenara recalled yesterday, adding he had stood in employment queues in Fremantle trying to find a job.

“So Sydney was going to be my chance to re-establish myself financially and it ended up a disaster for me. I basically had my tail between my legs and whatever I’d achieved in footy ... I felt like I was a failure and I felt I’d let my family down.

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“I got to a stage where I sat on the end of the south pier at Fremantle and I was going to go for a swim and not come back. But I had two kids and they were the only reason I didn’t.”

Buckenara said he lamented not having been an inaugural West Coast Eagle at a time his mother Dawn was recovering from a serious car accident. But he returned to Hawthorn to win two more premierships and became a member of Hawthorn’s Team of the Century.

“I think to this day there is a lot of the hierarchy in WA football that still holds it against me,” Buckenara, now general manager of Victoria’s Frankston Football Club, said.

“But I tried my best, moved to WA and wanted to do it. In the end I had to make a decision because Hawthorn would have made me play two years of WAFL footy (as per the Supreme Court decision) and I didn’t think I had any choice.

“I think I always showed my commitment to WA in State of Origin games and while I didn’t take away much money from the game, I’ve taken away great mates. So I take away great memories and things that people would give a lot to achieve and I don’t take that for granted.

“It’s all those relationships that have helped me blossom as a person and a sportsman and, more importantly, I hope I’ve been a good human.”

Camera Icon With Ross Glendinning after the 1986 State of Origin win. Credit: The West Australian

Buckenara said it was only the encouragement of his older brother Rod and their Churchlands Teachers College E-Grade football team that drew him away from a promising cricket career. He had played A-grade district cricket for Scarborough alongside WA greats such as Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh, Sam Gannon, Mick Malone, Greg Shipperd and Tom Hogan.

He said a serious hand injury that ruined his brother’s football career after he got it caught in a treadmill had always given him powerful motivation to make the most of his time in the game.

The 60-year-old, as a key Hawthorn staffer for more than a decade from 2004, also oversaw the recruiting of champions such as Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Jordan Lewis, Cyril Rioli and Ben Stratton.

He said his Hall of Champions induction was humbling.

“For a footballer who never set out to be anything, I’m very thankful for it and I’m very proud of my WA roots,” he said.

“When I consider all the champion sportspeople in WA, to be considered as a part of that is a great honour.”