Saturday, 27 June 1981, South Melbourne v Fitzroy at Lake Oval. It was a special time in Swans history … the first time in 125 years when three brothers played together in red and white at senior level.

Paul, Tony and Shane Morwood, products of suburban Noble Park 25km south-east of the Melbourne GPO, were the star attractions in a joyous and momentous occasion amid an ongoing period of uncertainty.

It was Round 14 and the 701^st game at what had been the club’s home since 1897. And as would be later confirmed, it was the fourth-last. The Swans would play their home games in Sydney in 1982 and relocate to the Harbour City in 1983.

With his side sitting 9^th on the 12-team ladder with a 4-9 record and almost sensing the club needed a lift, coach Ian Stewart selected a 19-year-old Shane Morwood to debut alongside 21-year-old Tony and 22-year-old Paul in what was Barry Round’s 250^th AFL game.

The Morwoods were not the first set of three brothers to play for the Swans. That distinction had gone to John, Joe and Tom Fogarty when they played a combined 76 games for South Melbourne from 1902-06. But this was the first time three brothers had played in the same side.

Coach Stewart, coming off a 32-point loss to fourth-placed Hawthorn the week before, made five changes, with Mark Browning returning from an 11-week layoff to become just the fourth 100-gamer in a young side.

Kevin Goss and Max James also returned as the youngest Morwood joined an even younger Mark Whitzell in a shared debut. Just 160 days beyond his 17^th birthday, Whitzell was the 12^th youngest player in Swans history. And still is. Barring a change in draft ages, he always will be.

First-year pair Dennis Carroll and Anthony Daniher made way with Noel Jenkinson, Phillip Moir and Mark Fraser. Jenkinson never played for the club again, Moir added just one game and Fraser two.

Fitzroy, under first-year coach Robert Walls, were 7^th at 7-6 and still in finals contention after a 25-point win over second-placed Carlton the week before.

Bernie Quinlan, who nine weeks later would share the 1981 Brownlow Medal with close friend and long-time Footscray teammate Round, was playing his 249^th game. And in a milestone that would only reveal its true relevance 18 years later, Brian Brown played his 50^th game for Fitzroy to qualify son Jonathon as a future Brisbane Lions father/son draftee.

Fitzroy, with future Swans Glen Coleman and Craig Braddy in the side, led at each change and by as many as 35 points at three-quarter time as Les Parish kicked a career-best five goals.

Despite 32 possessions from Greg Smith and rally from a wayward South in the final term the visitors won 14-9 (93) to 9-16 (70). Tony Morwood, in jumper #21, had 15 possessions and a goal, Paul Morwood, in jumper #32, had 15 possessions and Shane Morwood, in jumper #41, four possessions from limited game time.

The Morwood brothers would go on to play together 15 times for the Swans for an 8-7 win/loss record before Paul moved to St Kilda and Shane headed to Collingwood in 1983.

Astonishingly, in 17 years from Paul’s debut in Round 2, 1977 until Shane’s last game in Round 22, 1993 there were only 20 rounds of home-and-away football (excluding byes) in which at least one Morwood was not playing.

Paul and Tony played together at the Swans 66 times, and Paul and Shane played together at Collingwood four times. The trio played in the same round for different sides 44 times.

Three times in 1979 Paul and Tony each kicked four goals each in the same game – the only three times in his career Paul kicked four.

In Round 13 1984, when Sydney hosted St Kilda at the SCG, Paul collected three Brownlow Medal votes and Tony two votes in a Saints win.

Only once was it ‘two on one’. In Round 2 1986, when Sydney beat Collingwood by 34 points at the SCG in coach Tom Hafey’s first season in the Harbour City, the Morwood majority prevailed. A win for Paul and Tony.

It could have happened again in Round 14 1987 when Collingwood, with Paul and Shane together in black and white, visited the SCG, but Tony missed his only game for the season.

Twenty-eight years after the last of the brothers retired in 1993 the Morwoods rank 5^th in AFL history among 13 sets of brothers who have played a combined 500 AFL games.

The Swans are a part of four of the top 14 families, with the Morwoods plus Terry and Anthony Daniher, Jarrad McVeigh and Rhyce Shaw.

Terry and Anthony Daniher also shared in an even more rare moment in AFL history when they joined brothers Chris and Neale to play together for Essendon in 1982. It was the 82^nd and last game for Neale Daniher, now the face of Motor Neurone Disease research in Australia, and the only time in AFL history four brothers have played together.

The 500-game AFL brothers list to the end of the 2021 season is:-

765 – Selwood – Joel 334, Adam 187, Scott 169, Troy 75
752 – Daniher – Terry 313, Anthony 233, Chris 124, Neale 82
710 – Madden – Simon 378, Justin 332
647 – Burgoyne – Shaun 407, Peter 240
611 – Morwood – Tony 229, Shane 212, Paul 170
578 – Nankervis – Ian 325, Bruce 253
562 – Shaw – Heath 325, Rhyce 237
557 – McVeigh – Jarrad 325, Mark 232
555 – Cornes – Kane 300, Chad 255
533 – Coventry – Gordon 306, Syd 227
518 – Richardson - Wayne 277, Max 241
515 – Ablett - Gary Snr 248, Geoff 229, Kevin 38
513 – Wakelin – Darryl 261, Shane 252
502 – Shaw – Tony 313, Ray 146, Neville 43

The Swans ‘brotherhood’ comprises 25 sets of brothers - 23 pairs and the two triples.

While the Morwoods player together, the Fogarty brothers, with a combined 76 games for the club from 1902-06, did not. A fourth brother Chris also played at the top level, notching 28 games with Essendon and University from 1906-10. He was killed in action in the First World War.

Together this small and illustrious group share a special place in a Swans history that to the end of the 2021 season takes in 1438 players and 2492 matches over 125 years.

It didn’t take long for this exclusive group to get rolling. One game, in fact, when South Melbourne played Melbourne at Lake Oval in Round 1 1897. At the top of the team sheet were brothers Dave and Jack Adamson, sons of local railway worker David Snr and his wife Fanny and players #1 and #2 on the all-time playing list.

Jack, at 24 the older of the pair by 18 months, had graduated from Napier Imperial, the South Melbourne junior side, to play with the club’s VFA team from 1893-96. He was a forward known as “an excellent place kick”

Dave, a member of the 1893 Napier Imperial premiership side at 19, had spent the previous three years working in Traralgon with the then Bank of Australasia and playing with the local Traralgon team. Captain in 1895-96, he had played one VFA game with South and after “acquitting himself well” as a follower was seen as a valuable recruit.

Had the ‘Brotherhood’ been so inclined they could have claimed at least a pseudo pairing on the same Saturday afternoon when the Swans were beaten 3-9 (27) to 6-8 (44) by the Demons.

Also playing in the inaugural South team was Allen Burns, the 26-year-old brother of Peter Burns, a four-time South Melbourne VFA premiership player in 1885 and 1988-89-90 who was regarded as one of the very best players in the game. Later to join Geelong, he is regarded as the code’s first 300-game player.

Strictly speaking, Norm and Harold Rippon, whose brother Les played with Melbourne, were the second members of the South Melbourne ‘brotherhood’, followed by George and Vin Moloney.

Of the 27 families included, 15 pairings and the Morwoods, played in the same side. The other eight pairings plus the Fogartys did not.

Two sets of twins are gold star members of the ‘Brotherhood’ – 1918 premiership player Chris Laird and his twin Frank, and the 1970’s duo of Neville Stibbard Jnr, more recently known in AFL recruiting circles, and his twin Robert. Their father, Neville Stibbard Snr, played six games with South Melbourne in 1946 before six games with North Melbourne in 1947-48.

The 15 pairs of brothers who played together for the Swans, listed in chronological order, are:-

The Cordy brothers, who played three games together with the Western Bulldogs before joining the Swans together in 1987, were the ultimate pairing. They are listed consecutively on the all-time playing list at #1160 (Graeme) and #1161 (Neil) and, as they had done at the Dogs, wore consecutive jumper numbers – Graeme wore #28 and Neil wore #29.

Jack Deas, player #5 on the all-time list and a teammate of the Adamson brothers in the Swans’ first game, became part of the club’s first set of brothers who did not play together when Bob Deas, nine years his junior, played in 1909. The full list is:-

ANY WE HAVE MISSED?

AFL records of brothers may be incomplete, especially in the very early years. Players listed above are definitely members of the ‘brotherhood’ but there may be others.

Like Bert Howsen, player #9 and another member of the club’s first side, played 152 Swans games from 1897-1908. Henry Howson, played #65, played two games in 1899. Were they brothers?

Or Alex Kerr, player #174, played 74 games from 1906-11. Bill Kerr, player #194, played 15 games in 1907. They played two games together including the 1907 grand final. Were they brothers?

Like Jim O’Hara, player #13 and yet another member of the first Swans side, played 37 games in 1897 and from 1899-1901. Frank O’Hara, player #21, played 60 games from 1897-1901. Jack O’Hara, player #50, played two games in 1898. Bill O’Hara, player #90, played five games in 1901. Were any of them brothers?

Or Joe Scanlan, player #353, played 148 games from 1923-31. Paddy Scanlan, played #316, played 100 games from 1920-26. Merv Scanlan, player #360, played two games in 1924. Were they brothers?

As we wait for Chad and Corey Warner to play together, we are inviting information on any other brothers. If you can help, please contact media@sydneyswans.com.au