Tony Lockett stood at the top of his mark as the siren sounded. “Any score will do,” said Channel Seven’s Sandy Roberts in commentary: “The most important kick of his career”.
In his 40th game in red and white, ‘Plugger’ moved in and kicked from 55 metres out. He carried the journey comfortably, and although he pulled it left a fraction it didn’t matter. The Swans beat Essendon by the big man’s point to close out the 1996 AFL preliminary final.
The one-time South Melbourne Swans had qualified for their first grand final since 1945, and their first ever as a Sydney-based team, sending a sell-out SCG crowd of 41,731 into scenes of jubilation that will never be forgotten.
When he was elevated to Legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame in 2015, Lockett recounted the moment, suggesting he had “done nothing all night” and “with 20 seconds to go just happened to get a mark”.
For a ‘done nothing’ moment it was very, very special. And as the Swans prepare for Saturday night’s 2022 SCG preliminary final against Collingwood the famous ‘Plugger Point’, which was added to the Swans Heritage List in 2013, is the headline story as this week’s finals flashback as we recount preliminary finals of the Sydney era.
Lockett, who had won the 1996 Coleman Medal with 114 goals in the home-and-away season, had missed the Swans’ six-point qualifying final win over Hawthorn at the SCG a fortnight earlier with a knee injury, and needed a late clearance to play in the preliminary final.
Also cleared to resume was 20-year-old North Shore junior Wade Chapman, who had been ko’d in Round 22 as the Swans claimed the minor premiership in his comeback game from a 12-week absence with a broken leg.
It was Lockett and Chapman in for Justin Crawford and Simon Arnott as the Swans faced a Bombers side which had finished sixth on the home-and-away ladder and lost a qualifying final to Brisbane by a point at the Gabba.
It was in the days of the old McIntyre Finals System in which it was 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 in week one, with the two lowest-ranked losers eliminated. Essendon had survived only because Sydney beat Hawthorn and second-placed North beat seventh-placed Geelong but had thumped fourth-placed West Coast by 77 points in Perth to earn a crack at the Swans.
Essendon led by 19 points at quarter-time before Sydney took a 12-point lead to half-time and a one-point lead to three-quarter time.
With 2mins20sec on the clock it was the Bombers by a goal. Swans captain Paul Kelly cleared hurriedly on his left out of the centre and found Simon Garlick at half forward on the bounce. He spun quickly and went by hand to a running Chapman, who half-volleyed it brilliantly and fired the slickest of handballs to Stuart Maxfield.
In his first season with the Swans, Maxfield picked out a fast-leading Lockett on the flank. Near the intersection of the 50m line and the boundary, he wheeled around quickly and picked out a leading Daryn Cresswell at centre-half forward.
Two weeks earlier Cresswell had taken a huge mark and kicked a last-minute goal to get the Swans home against the Hawks, and he was equal to the task again when he shrugged off a serious cramp attack to slot the goal from 48m and level the scores as the clock showed 1min29sec to play.
Greg Stafford won the ball from the centre bounce and found Maxfield by hand, but he was dis-possessed in a heavy tackle. It spilled to Craig O’Brien who kicked long to Kelly in a one-on-one marking contest at centre half forward. No mark.
Essendon captain Gary O’Donnell gathered the crumbs and fed a running Joe Misiti by hand. The Bombers were away until Kevin Dyson produced a magnificent chase-down tackle to win the ball back. It was 1:02 on the clock as the umpires called for a bounce.
The ball spilled to Essendon’s Damien Hardwick but his hurried left-foot kick from the wing was gathered on the bounce by Andrew Dunkley, who sent a scrubbing kick forward.
Kelly gathered and kicked to Michael O’Loughlin on the 50m arc. One grab but not the second, and Essendon cleared again. But perfectly positioned to take the mark on the wing for Sydney was Chapman. He hurried back off the mark, looked up and kicked perfectly to a leading Lockett.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Sydney won 10.10 (70) to 10.9 (69). Kelly had 26 possessions and two goals, O’Loughlin 21 possessions and Dyson 20, while Cresswell and Lewis kicked three goals.
The 1996 epic against Essendon was one of eight Swans preliminary finals of the Sydney era, which have delivered a 6-2 record – 1-0 at the SCG, 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium, 2-0 at the MCG and 0-1 at Subiaco. Each win has its own special place in club history.
2005: Another Final Quarter Blitz
Sydney had finished third on the 2005 home-and-ladder before losing the qualifying final by a point to West Coast in Perth and coming from behind to beat Geelong in the semi-final on the back of Nick Davis’ four unforgettable final quarter goals.
In the preliminary final they travelled to the MCG to meet St Kilda, who had finished fourth and earned a week off with an eight-point win over Adelaide in Adelaide.
The match in itself was a moment in history – it was the Swans first MCG preliminary since 1936.
Coach Paul Roos took in an unchanged side which led by 12 points at quarter time and four points at half-time only to find themselves 15 points down 19 minutes into the third. Barry Hall’s third goal cut the deficit to seven, but the visitors still had plenty to do
There would be no repeat of the one-man blitz. This time it was a team blitz, with five goals in eight minutes turning the game on its head.
Adam Schneider started the assault with a left-foot snap, and then a right-foot snap, prompting Tim Lane to say in commentary: “The Swans came back from the dead last week .. and they are climbing out of the grave again today.”
A terrible St Kilda mix-up presented Michael O’Loughlin with a gift goal from point blank range before Hall snapped beautifully from 50m for his fourth and O’Loughlin accepted a perfect pass from a dominant Amon Buchanan. In a flash it was 13.6 to 9.8.
There was still plenty of time, but Ryan O’Keefe’s 100th AFL goal put the issue beyond doubt before Schneider finished the final quarter assault that he’d started with his third.
O’Keefe was best afield with a team-high 24 possessions and two goals, while Adam Goodes, with 20 possessions, was the only other Sydney player to reach 20 as Tadhg Kennelly celebrated his 100th game.
2006: A Mighty Hall Haul
Barry Hall played one of the great finals to spearhead the Swans to an all-the-way win over Fremantle in the 2006 preliminary final at the Olympic Stadium.
Coming off five goals in a one-point qualifying win over West Coast in Perth, Hall kicked a finals-best six as the Swans prevailed 19.13 (127) to 14.8 (92) in front of a monster crowd of 61,373. He took 14 marks, including four contested marks, and kicked 6-1 from a career-best 24 possessions.
Ryan O’Keefe (24 possessions, four goals), Brett Kick (28 possessions) and Jude Bolton (26 possessions, two goals) were other standouts.
2012: A Special 300th Game Celebration
The Swans sat on top of the home-and-away ladder from Rounds 15-21 but three losses in their last four games saw them slip to third. They were beaten three times by top eight opponents and their only win in the run to September came against a 15th-placed Western Bulldogs. Suddenly the premiership favourites were under pressure.
A 29-point qualifying win over second-placed Adelaide helped restore the confidence levels, but still they went into a preliminary final against Collingwood at Stadium Australia knowing they’d lost by three goals to the same opponent at the same venue in Round 21.
Heath Grundy returned from suspension to replace the injured Ben McGlynn as the Swans went into the game desperate to celebrate Jude Bolton’s 300th game in appropriate fashion.
They did that and more, jumping out to a 5.5 to 2.3 lead at quarter time and answering everything the Magpies could throw at them in front of a crowd of 57,156.
The Swans led by 41 points late in the third quarter and although Collingwood kicked four unanswered goals to keep things interesting the Pies never seriously challenged and were beaten 13.18 (96) to 10.10 (70). Had the Swans not kicked poorly for goal it would have been an even bigger win.
Lewis Jetta was an unlikely leading goal-kicker with three, including a spectacular three-bounce run from the defensive side of centre, while four Swans players had 30+ possessions – best afield Ryan O’Keefe (34 possessions, one goal, 11 tackles, nine clearances), Dan Hannebery (33 possessions), Josh Kennedy (30 possessions, two goals, 10 clearances) and Jarrad McVeigh (30 possessions).
2014: A Record Finals Score
In 91 finals the Swans biggest score is 19.22 (136), and their biggest win is 91 points. And both came in the 2014 preliminary final against North Melbourne. Not surprisingly, the man at the centre of the rout was Lance Franklin, who kicked a Swans-best five goals.
Having won the minor premiership with a 17-5 record the Swans had beaten fourth-placed Fremantle by 24 points at the Olympic Stadium in the qualifying final.
North had finished sixth on the ladder at 14-8, and after a 12-point win over seventh-placed Essendon they’d sprung a massive surprise when they beat third-placed Geelong by six points.
As the two sides met back at the Olympic Stadium in a Friday night grand final qualifier the Swans were hot favorites against a Kangaroos side which had spent a lot of petrol tickets. And so, it turned out.
The Swans led by 21 points at the first change, 36 at the second, 52 at the third and won by 71 points at 19.22 (136) to 9.11 (65).
Franklin, fourth on the all-time AFL finals goals list with 72 goals equal with Leigh Matthews and behind only Gordon Coventry (111), Jason Dunstall (78) and Jack Titus (74), put on a clinic.
In his first finals series with the Swans and coming off three goals against Fremantle, he took 11 marks, including eight inside the forward 50m zone, had 23 kicks and kicked 5.2. And he gave off a career-best four goal assists.
Only Josh Kennedy (27 possessions) and Luke Parker (26 possessions, three goals) had more of the ball, while Kurt Tippett (four goals) and 350th-gamer Adam Goodes (three goals) also got in on the party.
2016: All Over Quickly
If the 2022 AFL finals series have taught us anything it is that a quarter-time lead doesn’t guarantee anything. In six finals this year the winner has trailed at quarter-time five times by 10, 14, 34, 15 and 23 points, and been level once.
But in the 2016 preliminary it very definitely did. Ben McGlynn started it 29 seconds in with the first goal, and was followed quickly by Kurt Tippett, Luke Parker (twice), Tippett again, Isaac Heeney and Lance Franklin, and by quarter-time Sydney led Geelong 7.2 to 0.5.
It was all very early. The Swans cruised to a 15.7 (97) to 8.12 (60) win over the Cats in a grand final qualifier that all along had been tipped to be the grand final after they had finished 1st and 2nd on the home-and-away ladder.
Sydney’s shock loss to GWS in the qualifying final at the Olympic Stadium had thrown plans out the window, sending them into a home semi-final against Adelaide and then, after they accounted for the Crows by 36 points, an away preliminary final.
They did an extraordinary job against the Cats, holding a side that had averaged 102.6 a game through the home-and-away season to 60 and sharing the load beautifully at the other end, with Tom Papley getting three goals and Lance Franklin, Gary Rohan, Parker and Tippett two each.
Dan Hannebery (29 possessions), Heeney (28), Tom Mitchell (27), Dane Rampe (26), Josh Kennedy (25) and Jake Lloyd (25) all had plenty of the ball. It was one of the club’s great finals wins at the MCG.
