The Sydney Swans will be forever grateful to the Brisbane Lions for one of the great handpasses in club history.
It delivered a player who wore #6 more often than every Swan except Andrew Dunkley and became one of the club greats. A premiership player, dual All-Australian, three-year captain and Hall of Famer.
As the Swans prepare to play the Lions at the Gabba on Friday night, the record books show that Craig Bolton is a standout among 18 players who have represented both clubs since Brisbane joined the AFL in 1987.
Originally from Canberra and drafted by the Lions with pick #33 in the 1998 National Draft, Bolton had been an emergency for the Lions’ 2001-02 premiership sides.
He was a much-loved and admired player under Leigh Matthews, but despite every effort by the Lions to keep him Bolton couldn’t see himself getting a regular game in the super side.
He was given a free path to the Swans via the 2003 Pre-Season Draft and played 170 games for the Swans before an injury-forced retirement mid-2010.
He was a premiership player in 2005, All-Australian in 2006 and 2009, and co-captain 2008-10, sharing the role with Leo Barry and Brett Kirk in 2008, and with Adam Goodes and Kirk in 2009-10. He finished top 10 in the Bob Skilton Medal five times.
Described by coach John Longmire as “a wonderful captain who set a wonderful example on and off the field”, Bolton represented Australia in the 2004 International Rules series and in 2008 played for the Dream Team against Victoria in the Hall of Fame Exhibition Match at the MCG.
Having served as CEO of AFL NSW/ACT in 2004 and is now living in the United States and has a senior role with Apple.
Bolton was the 14th of 18 players to play for Sydney and Brisbane after ex-Swans Jim Edmond and Mark Roberts were members of the very first Bears side in 1987.
Jamie Duursma (1987), Warwick Capper (1988), Matthew Ryan and Queenslander Craig Potter (1991) followed before #1 draft pick John Hutton (1993) and Matthew AhMat (1994) became the first pair to go from Brisbane to Sydney.
Dion Scott, pick #8 to the Swans in the 1988 AFL National Draft, joined Brisbane in 1993 after six games in three injury-plagued years in Sydney, before Shannon Corcoran (1997) and Queenslander Brent Green (1998) went from Brisbane to Sydney, and Adam Heuskes (1999) and Stefan Carey (2000) went the other way.
Others to wear both colours have been Ben Fixter (2006), Daniel Bradshaw and Amon Buchanan (2010) and Lewis Taylor (2020).
Bradshaw, a Brisbane premiership player in 2001 and 2003 who quit the club after he was touted as trade bait in the club’s pursuit of Brendan Fevola at the end of the 2009 season, played only nine games for the Swans before an injury-forced retirement and only once against his old club. But it was a beauty.
In Round 6, 2010 Bradshaw kicked six goals to earn three Brownlow Medal votes in a 20-point Swans win at the SCG. His best afield rating came after he polled one vote in Round 4 and two votes in Round 5. He finished with 29 goals in 10 games wearing Michael O’Loughlin’s former #19 jumper.
Head-to-Head
Sydney has a 30-1-24 record overall against Brisbane. They’ve lost three of the last four meetings in 2019-22 after enjoying an 11-0 run from 2010-18, including a seven-win streak at the Gabba. It’s 13-1-9 to the Swans overall at the Gabba, was 2-3 at Carrara and is 0-1 in Cairns after the sides met there in the Covid season of 2020. The Swans have enjoyed a 13-10 edge at the SCG and 2-1 at Stadium Australia.
Welcome Home, Tom
Sydney Swans ruckman Tom Hickey, a born-and-bred Brisbane boy, will play his 143rd AFL game this week and just his fourth game in his home city. Oddly, his three previous games at the Gabba have been for three different clubs – St Kilda in 2015, West Coast in 2019 and Sydney in 2021.
Son of a (Sydney) Gun
Josh Dunkley, son of 217-game Swans fullback Andrew Dunkley, will play for the sixth time against his father’s club this week and the first time in Brisbane colours. A premiership player in his first season with the Western Bulldogs in 2016 and winner of the Dogs best and fairest last year, Dunkley has been a huge addition to the Lions ranks this year.
Brownlow Medal Votes
Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes has been the king of the AFL’s northern derby, playing 28 times for 19 Brownlow Medal votes. He polled nine times and was best afield four times. Michael Voss (10) leads the Brisbane vote from Jason Akermanis (9), Nigel Lappin (9), Roger Merrett (8) and Dayne Zorko (7). Barry Hall (11), Jude Bolton (11), Dan Hannebery (10), Josh Kennedy (9) and Kieren Jack (8) are next best for Sydney.
Major Possession-Winners
Sydney’s Greg Williams has held the record for most possessions in a game between Sydney and Brisbane since the second meeting in 1988. He had 41 possessions at the SCG. It is a mark that was equalled by Josh Kennedy at the Gabba in 2015. Brisbane’s best is Dayne Beams’ 38 at the Gabba in 2018. Kennedy has had most 30-possession games in the northern derby with six, from Sydney’s Barry Mitchell (5), Williams (4) and Dan Hannebery (4), while Dayne Zorko (3) and Tom Rockliff (3) are Brisbane’s best.
Major Goal-Kickers
Tony Lockett, AFL all-time leading goal-kicker, kicked double-figure goals 14 times in his career of 281 games and 1360 goals. Which opposition teams did the St Kilda/Sydney superstar feast on most often? Brisbane and Sydney. He topped 10 goals against each club four times (despite playing 98 games for the Swans).
He missed out against Essendon, 1995 expansion team Fremantle, Geelong and St Kilda, where he played 183 games, topped 10 goals against Adelaide three times and Carlton twice, and once each against Collingwood, Fitzroy, Hawthorn, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Richmond, Western Bulldogs and West Coast.
Lockett’s 11 goals for Sydney against Brisbane at the SCG in Round 9, 1996 is the most in a game between the clubs. Brisbane’s best is John Hutton’s eight at Carrara in 1992, and the rare double of eight apiece to Roger Merrett and Michael Murphy at the Gabba in 1993.
Lance Franklin kicked eight at the Gabba in 2008, while five players have kicked seven – Brisbane’s Cameron O’Brien, John Gastev and Alastair Lynch, and Sydney’s Lockett and Mark Bayes.
The Only Final
Brisbane and Sydney have met only once in a final – the 2003 preliminary final at Stadium Australia. The Lions kicked 6.6 to 0.1 in the final quarter to win by 44 points in the game in which Nigel Lappin suffered broken ribs in a collision with teammate Shaun Hart, which set up his unbelievable effort of playing in the grand final the following week with not just broken ribs but a punctured lung, unknowingly suffered in a fitness test the day before the game. Paul Williams (26) and Ben Mathews (20) were the only Sydney players to top 20 possessions, and Barry Hall (2) the only multiple goal-kicker.
Highs & Lows
Sydney’s highest score against Brisbane is 22.17 (149) at the Gabba in 1998, when Tony Lockett kicked seven goals and Daryn Cresswell (31 possessions, one goal) and Wayne Schwass (28 possessions, one goal) topped the Brownlow Medal votes in Paul Roos’ 350th AFL game and Schwass’ 200th.
Their biggest winning margin is 84 points at Stadium Australia in Round 20 2005, when Barry Hall kicked six goals for three votes, Ryan O’Keefe had 25 possessions and three goals for two votes, and Craig Bolton 25 possessions for one vote against his former side.
Brisbane’s highest score and biggest win against Sydney was in Round 8, 1993 at the Gabba when the Swans kicked 33.21 (219) to 8.9 (57). It was the 10th biggest margin and 12th highest score in AFL history and came when the great Ron Barassi coached the Swans for the second time after Gary Buckanara had been sacked and Brett Scott filled in for two games. Nathan Buckley, in his eighth game, received three votes.
Brisbane Form Guide
The Lions have an 8-4 record, sitting fourth on the AFL ladder after a roller-coaster ride through the first half of the season. They copped a 54-point hiding from Port Adelaide in Adelaide in Round 1, bounced back with an 11-point Gabba win over Melbourne in Round 2 but had a 14-point Round 3 loss to the Bulldogs at Marvel.
They inflicted Collingwood’s only loss of the season by 33 points at the Gabba in Round 4 to spark a seven-game winning streak over North (75 points) in Mt Barker in Gather Round, GWS (21 points) in Canberra, Fremantle (48 points) at the Gabba, Carlton (26 points) at Marvel and Essendon (42 points) and Gold Coast (43 points) at the Gabba. It turned sour when they lost by 17 points to Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in Round 11 and, after a Round 12 bye, gave up a 17-point halftime to lead in going down to Hawthorn by 25 points at the MCG last week.
Lachie Neale, averaging 28.1 possessions a game, has been the Lions’ No.1 ball-winner this year from Josh Dunkley (25.8 possessions per game), first-year player Will Ashcroft (22.6) and Hugh McCluggage (22.6).
Charlie Cameron (34) and Joe Daniher (30) head the Brisbane goal-kicking from Eric Hipwood (20), Zac Bailey (14), Cam Rayner (13), Jack Gunston (11) and Lincoln McCarthy (11).
Neale heads the Brisbane vote in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award with 40, from Dunkley, Cameron and Daniher (25), and Ashcroft (20).
Rayner, #1 pick in the 2017 AFL National Draft, will play his 100th game this week but McCluggage, ko’d in the incident that sent Hawthorn captain James Sicily to the tribunal, will miss.
