In the lead-up to the Swans round 8 home match against Melbourne, which will celebrate the Club’s 30 years in Sydney, sydneyswans.com.au is collating the 30 Defining Moments of the Swans in Sydney in chronological order.

The 30 Defining Moments have been selected by Sydney Swans Chairman, Richard Colless, Deputy Chairman, Andrew McMaster, and Swans Hall of Fame inductee and former Club captain, coach, and director, Rick Quade.

#9 - Paul Kelly wins Brownlow Medal, 1995

1995 saw a much improved performance on the field from the Swans, as the team won eight games for the first time since the 1989 season. But it would be an off-field accolade following the conclusion of the season that would really signify that the club was well and truly on the up.

When a 26-year-old from Wagga Wagga, who grew up playing rugby league as well as AFL, became the toast of the AFL on the 25th of September, 1995, it was undoubtedly a defining moment for the club.

Paul Kelly, the Swans courageous and inspirational skipper, was recognised as the league’s fairest and best player for the 1995 season when he won the Brownlow Medal by three votes from Hawthorn’s Darren Jarman.

Kelly polled 21 votes from 22 games, including three best on ground performances, four two-vote and four single-vote games, averaging 13 kicks, seven handballs and three-and-a-half tackles per game over the season. The Swans captain became the tenth player in the club’s history to claim the league’s highest individual honour - Bob Skilton of course won the award three times in 1959, 1963 and 1968 - and the first since Gerard Healy in 1988.

The award was remarkable vindication for Kelly who had worked extremely hard and diligently on his game since arriving at the club - Kelly was in all five remedial groups to rectify skill deficiencies in his first year at the Swans, and nearly returned home to Wagga due to home sickness prior to the 1990 season.

“This win was hugely popular and gives great credibility to the Brownlow Medal,” AFL CEO Ross Oakley said immediately following the medal presentation.

The victory was also hugely important for the improving fortunes of the football club, with over 800 people watching the count from a dinner in Sydney and duly celebrating when Kelly won the award. In his victory speech, Kelly paid tribute to coach Ron Barassi and the influence he had had in steadying the ship when the club was in such a dire position.

“We (the Swans) might not have been here if it was not for him,” Kelly said.

Kelly was also voted the AFL Players’ Association Most Valuable Player in 1995, and named on the bench in the All Australian team, but he was runner-up to full-forward Tony Lockett in the Club Champion award.

Kelly’s influence on the Sydney Swans Football Club was profound and in 2009 he was inducted as one of three inaugural Bloods Legends - alongside Skilton and Bob Pratt - in the first intake of the Swans Hall of Fame.

The way Kelly attacked the footy and the resilience he showed in overcoming injuries throughout his career set the standard for many of today’s great players, not just at the Swans.

“I thought this guy was unbelievable,” Geelong’s 2007 Brownlow medallist Jim Bartel told the Geelong Advertiser in 2010.

“He just played the football so hard, you would see bodies flying everywhere.

“He would run all day, was amazingly brave and skilful, and the way he would clear the ball out of the centre and hit big Tony Lockett on the chest was football at its purest.”