Among the rows of mourners that would visit the Gregory and Carr Funeral Home in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde, Will Edwards always stood out.
Although he dressed in a black suit to blend in, the 23-year-old is almost two metres tall. Itโs a trait which contributed to making his debut for the Sydney Swans last month, and one which made him particularly good at his previous line of work as a funeral director.
Before Swans coach Dean Cox, Edwards was under the tutelage of Michael Bolton, chief operating officer of Walker Funerals which owns the funeral home. Bolton met Edwards in 2022 when the then 19-year-old was looking for casual work while playing in the Swans Academy.
โPeople donโt go to funerals often, itโs not something people certainly like to do, theyโre generally uncomfortable. So what theyโre looking for a lot of the time is some guidance: Where are the bathrooms? What time does the funeral start? Whoโs the family?โ Bolton said.
โEven as a younger person particularly people gravitated towards him because he stood out. You can hide away if youโre smaller or shorter and they wouldnโt recognise you as an employee, but given his physical stature people would gravitate towards him.โ
Edwards would begin his shifts with a list of duties. They varied from preparing vehicles to visiting homes of the bereaved, to attending the funerals to help support them. On some days, he would then head straight to training afterwards.
โAt one time heโd be at a funeral [then] heโd be out of the suit and be out mowing the lawn โฆ There was just nothing that he wouldnโt do,โ Bolton said. โItโs difficult to get good staff and he was so well-disciplined. The personality was great. For a younger person in this industry, he showed an extreme level of maturity around it … Itโs a bit of a niche industry that people donโt understand, thereโs no TAFE course or anything. But he made other people, whether it be mourners or other staff members, feel comfortable.โ
Edwards left the job in 2023 when he was drafted to the Sydney Swans but would have to wait years before getting a chance to make his AFL debut after several infections, a broken fibula and stress fracture, kept him out of contention.
โI never really thought about being delisted or anything like that because as soon as those thoughts come into your head, you probably lose the passion a little bit,โ Edwards said. โBut there were times sitting in hospital, and I donโt mean to sob or anything, but you sort of go โam I ever going to play againโ.โ
But since making his debut for the Swans against the Western Bulldogs in April (with two of his former funeral home colleagues in attendance and Bolton watching from home), Edwards has already begun to make up for lost time. Heโs played in every game since and wonโt need any more funeral home shifts any time soon. Which is lucky considering heโs kept his former life hidden from his teammates.
โI think Iโve told a few of them in development meetings a couple of years ago, especially [former player and assistant coach] Brett Kirk was quite intrigued. But, I think I keep that one a bit under wraps, I think theyโd get a bit freaked out by it,โ he said.
Although, Edwards will bring some of what he learned in North Ryde with him to the Sydney Cricket Ground ahead of Saturdayโs clash against Richmond.
โThat job requires a lot of respect, a lot of emotional awareness and things like that,โ he said. โIt was probably a bit of an eye-opening job. [Itโs] not super easy and I guess sort of set me up for a little bit of emotional awareness.โ
