Remember the Round 23 clash of 2019 when Sydney played St Kilda at the SCG? What was special about it?

If this was a quiz question, there would be five points on offer. Five correct answers for staunch Swans fans to recognise five significant events for the red and white.

It was Lance Franklin’s 300^th game. He kicked four goals to pick up one Brownlow Medal vote and take his career total to 944 as Josh Kennedy (32 possessions, two goals and three Brownlow Medal votes) and Luke Parker (28 possessions, two goals and two votes) led the way. One point.

It was the last game for Sydney Swans champions Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack. They were carried off with Franklin after the 45-point home win in scenes that will never be forgotten. Two points.

And it was the first game for ex-Swans favourite Dan Hannebery against his old club in a Saints side coached by interim boss Brett Ratten. One point.

And for the fifth point … it was the last game at the SCG with no crowd restrictions.

On Saturday night, when the Sydney Swans return to the SCG to host Geelong in front of what shapes as a bumper crowd, it will be 945 days on. What a journey it has been!

Imagine if 100 years down the track an AFL fan with a discerning eye and a fundamental understanding of football normal but no knowledge of external factors picked up the AFL history books and looked back at the Swans fixture for 2020 and 2021.

Season 2020 would be downright crazy. Only 17 home-and-away games for each club, 85 days between the first and the second and thereafter a calendar on which the days between games read 6-5-9-8-6-7-7-5-7-8-8-5-5-5-7. And that with a bye squeezed into the seven-day break between games 10 and 12.

The discerning eye would notice the Swans played four games at the SCG against interstate opponents in customary fashion, four games interstate against ‘home’ sides, eight Saturday games and four Sunday games.

From there, it would get even more strange. Sydney played West Coast, Carlton and Geelong on the Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and Collingwood in Brisbane, Melbourne and Brisbane in Cairns, and cross-town rivals GWS in Perth. Plus, four Thursday games and a Tuesday game without any special holiday-related reason.

Crowds? That’d be another oddity. There were SCG crowds of 337, 605, 4264 and an estimated 6000. Two games interstate without any spectators and just one crowd above 6500 – 11,801 against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Season 2021 would start normally enough, albeit with restricted crowds. Rounds 1-15 played out in a traditional home-and-away fashion, with 11 Saturday games for the Swans, one each on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and a bye. And no excessively long or short breaks between games.

And then .... In the run to the finals Sydney played West Coast in Geelong, GWS and Fremantle on the Gold Coast, and the Gold Coast Suns in Melbourne. There was not a spectator at any of the last four games. And then the big one: Sydney played GWS in Launceston in the finals.

It was football life as we had to accept it. Covid normal. The 2020 season was put on hold for almost three months after Round 1, subsequent games were scheduled at next to no notice, the minimum six-day break was abandoned, crowds were determined by Government restrictions state by state, and the grand final was played in Brisbane. And 12 months later, when a more “normal” 2021 season turned pear-shape in August and the grand final was sent to Perth.

On Friday night against Geelong football will return to “normal” in a way we haven’t experienced for quite some time. A big crowd. Big noise. Loads of red and white.

For the first time in 945 days, since Round 23, 2019, that the Sydney Swans will play at the SCG without crowd restrictions to end a period in football history like no other.

We can’t wait!