It will always be one of the great rivalry periods in AFL history. Sydney v West Coast in the mid-2000s, when they met six times in the space 30 games, including four finals, for margins of 4-4-2-1-1-1 points and one premiership apiece.

From the Swans’ qualifying final loss at Subiaco and the grand final win in front of 91,828 at the MCG in 2005, through the Round 15 loss at Subiaco in 2006 to the ’06 qualifying final win at Subiaco and the grand final loss at the MCG before a crowd of 97,431, it was extraordinary.

The Eagles won four of the six games in the nail-biting stretch to square the head-to-head record at 18-18, but the Swans have spent 15 years in payback mode, winning 14 of the last 18, including eight in a row from 2008-14, to take an overall lead 32-22.

And at 4:35pm on Saturday, when the teams meet at the SCG in Round 15, the Swans will put on the line an 8-0 winning streak at the SCG which goes back 24 years.

It was 23 May 1999 – Round 9 – when the Eagles last beat the Swans at the SCG, prevailing 14.10 (94) to 11.15 (81) in Andrew Dunkley’s 150^th game. The visitors’ Ben Cousins had 32 possessions and a goal to earn three Brownlow Medal votes and Wayne Schwass 34 possessions for the home side.

Incredibly, 101-gamer Tom McCartin, born seven months later, and 15 other players who have appeared in the AFL this year, were not even born.

Oddly, though, the Eagles were last-start winners at the SCG – they beat Carlton by 22 points in their last visit to Swans HQ in Round 12, 2021 during Covid times.

The Swans have an aggregate 16-3 record against the Eagles at the SCG and a 3-1 against them at Stadium Australia. It’s a combined 11-16 in Perth, 8-14 at Subiaco and 1-2 at the WACA but 2-0 to the Swans at the new Perth Stadium. Plus 1-1 at the MCG in the grand finals, and, in two other Covid games, 1-0 to the Swans at Geelong’s Kardinia Park, and 0-1 to the Eagles at Carrara.

The First Game

The Swans–Eagles rivalry began in Round 3, 1987 at Subiaco. The Eagles, under Ron Alexander, had beaten Richmond by 14 points at Subiaco in Round 1 in their first AFL outing and lost by five points to Essendon at Windy Hill in Round 2 as they prepared to host a red-hot Swans, who had beaten Collingwood by 91 points at Victoria Park and Footscray by 108 points at the SCG in their second season under Tom Hafey.

The Swans led by eight points at quarter-time and by three points at half time before the Eagles jumped 10 points clear at the last change. Momentum was with the home side, but the Swans piled on 6.7 to 1.0 in the final term to win 18.16 (124) to 14.13 (97).

Warwick Capper (5), Mark Bayes (4) and Stevie Wright (3) led the Swans goal sheet, while Don Holmes and Wally Matera (3) led the Eagles scoring. Greg Williams (33), Gerard Healy (33) and Barry Mitchell (31) topped possession count for Sydney, while John Annear (32) and Ross Glendinning (26) did likewise for West Coast. Williams picked up three Brownlow Medal votes from Glendinning (2) and Capper (1).

Teams in notional positions were:-

Sydney

B: Ian Roberts, Rod Carter, Craig Holden
HB: Mark Browning, Dennis Carroll, David Murphy
C: Merv Neagle, Greg Williams, David Bolton
HF: Tony Morwood, Mark Bayes, Bernard Toohey
F: Glen Coleman, Warwick Capper, Stevie Wright
R: John Ironmonger, Gerard Healy, Barry Mitchell
INT: Craig Potter, Wayne Henwood

West Coast

B: Murray Wrensted, Michael Brennan, Mark Zanotti
HB: Don Holmes, Ross Glendinning, John Gastev
C: Chris Mainwaring, Steve Malaxos, Phil Narkle
HF: Chris Lewis, Phil Scott, Robert Wiley
F: Paul Peos, Darren Bennett, Wally Matera
R: Laurie Keene, Dwayne Lamb, John Annear
INT: Michael O’Connor, Peter Davidson

Dean Cox: The Factor!

Pivotal to the Eagles during the years of the golden rivalry was ruckman Dean Cox, a 290-game ex-rookie who nine years since retirement still ranks second on the club’s all-time games list. And since November 2017 he’s been pivotal to the Swans.

Now John Longmire’s senior assistant-coach, Cox made his AFL debut against Sydney at Subiaco in 2001 and polled his first Brownlow Medal votes against Sydney at Subiaco in 2002. He can quite reasonably claim to be ‘the factor’. After all, when he retired in 2014 the head-to-head record between the clubs favored West Coast 19-18. And since he joined Sydney it’s 5-1 to the Swans.

Common Players

Another key Swan who might like to claim ‘the factor’ title is football journeyman Tom Hickey. The former Gold Coast, St Kilda and West Coast player is unbeaten against the Eagles. And while he’s played them only once – at Geelong in Round 16, 2021 during Covid – it was a good one. He had 22 possessions – his third biggest possession count all-time and three short of his career-best. He had 13 contested possessions, 21 hit-outs, six clearances and a career-best 10 one-percenters in a 92-point Swans win – the biggest win of his 143-game career.

Hickey is member #10 of the Sydney - West Coast common players club, headed by gold members Jason Ball and Lewis Jetta, premiership players at both clubs, and Mitch Morton, a Sydney premiership player in his sixth game in red and white.

Scott Watters and Callum Sinclair were grand final players at West Coast before heading east, while completing the list are Tony Begovich, Mark Hepburn, Peter Melesso and Matt Spangher. Of the 10 common players, only Melesso and Jetta started with the Swans.

Most Games

Michael O’Loughlin has played most games between the clubs at 27. Adam Goodes (26), Jude Bolton and Ryan O’Keefe (22), Brett Kirk (20), Leo Barry and Jarrad McVeigh (19) are next on the Sydney list, while Ben Cousins heads the West Coast count at 23 from Drew Banfield (21), Dean Cox, Darren Glass and Michael Braun (20) and David Wirrpanda (19).

Something is Missing

It won’t be quite the same on Saturday afternoon in the Josh Kennedy Cup that is no more.

In the last 14 games between the Swans and the Eagles, spread over 13 years, there has been at least one ‘Josh Kennedy’ playing. And 11 times both sides have fielded a ‘JK’.

The Sydney JK, sixth of the Swans games list and all-time leader in possessions, has played in 13 of the 14 games, while the West JK, fourth on the Eagles game list and all-time leading goal-kicker, has played 11 of them. And that despite the fact that both began their glorious careers elsewhere, with the Sydney JK playing 13 games at Hawthorn, and the West Coast JK 22 games at Carlton.

Brownlow Medal Votes

Adam Goodes is the ‘king’ of Brownlow Medal votes in games between Sydney and West Coast, polling six times, including four best afield three-voters, for 16 votes. Luke Parker has also polled six times for 11 votes, while Daryn Cresswell (9), Wayne Schwass (9), Greg Williams (7), Greg Stafford (7), Paul Kelly (7), Tadhg Kennelly and Ryan O’Keefe (7) are next best. West Coast’s leading vote-getter against the Swans is Peter Matera, who polled six times for 14 votes, from Ben Cousins, six times for 11 votes, Chris Judd (10) and Daniel Kerr (7). Elliot Yeo (6) is best of the current players. Sydney lead the aggregate vote 172-122, having polled 84 times overall to the Eagles’ 63, including 30 of 49 three-votes.

Major Possession-Winners

Barry Mitchell was a veritable ball magnet in the early days with the Swans against the Eagles, posting 31-35-27-43-24-28-24-36-37 possessions in nine games from 1987-92. His 43 touches in Round 3 1989 at the SCG remains the record in games between the clubs. It’s also one of four 40-possession games, with Dan Hannebery going back-to-back 42-40 at Subiaco in 2012-13 before Jake Lloyd had 40 at the SCG in 2019.

Mitchell has had most 30-possession games in Swans v Eagles games with five, from Paul Kelly, Wayne Schwass, Daryn Cresswell and Greg Williams (4), Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker (3) in the Swans camp. Ben Cousins (3) tops the Eagles 30-possession count.

Major Goal-Kickers

Which Sydney player has kicked most goals in a game against West Coast? It’s a good trivia question. Not Lance Franklin or Tony Lockett, and not Barry Hall, Michael O’Loughlin or Warwick Capper.

To find the answer you need to go all the way back to the second game between the clubs in Round 16, 1987, when the Swans beat the then competition newcomers by 130 points at the SCG. It was 30.21 (201) to 10.11 (71), and at the top of the goal sheet was 171cm rover/goalsneak Stevie Wright. He kicked 8-1. Since then O’Loughlin and Daniel Bradshaw have kicked bags of six for the Swans against the Eagles, and Hall (three times), Franklin and Tom Papley have kicked five goals.

West Coast’s best against Sydney is eight to the credit of Peter Sumich at Subiaco in 1990. Sumich and Fraser Gehrig also kicked six against Sydney, and Sumich and Phil Matera have kicked five.

Highs & Lows

Sydney’s highest score and biggest win against West Coast came in the aforementioned game in 1987 when Stevie Wright kicked eight goals, when the score of 201 points was second highest in club history and the margin of 130 points was fourth-biggest.

West Coast’s highest score and biggest win against Sydney also came in the same game at Subiaco in 1990, when they kicked 19.14 (128) to win by 61 points. The Swans lowest score against West Coast is 5.7 (37) at Subiaco in 1995, and the Eagles lowest is 3.8 (26) at Geelong in 2021.

West Coast Form Guide

It might be a good week for John Longmire to trot out the famous old line ‘beware the wounded warrior’. Because there is no hiding the fact that the West Coast Eagles come to Sydney wounded. They sit at the bottom of the ladder with a 1-12 record, having beaten only GWS at Perth Stadium in Round 2 by 19 points. They’ve copped three 100-point losses from Carlton, Hawthorn and Adelaide in Perth, Launceston and Adelaide and have a percentage of 51.4.

Not insignificantly, they have used 38 players, have just six who have played every game, and have made a total of 40 team changes in 12 games. And that despite going unchanged in Round 3 after the win over West Coast.  

The comparative averages are 33.4 players used, 8.7 who have played every game and 29.1 changes, while Sydney have used 36 players (equal third highest), have 10 who have played every game (fifth best), and made 31 changes (equal fourth highest).

Best? St Kilda have used only 28 players, have 14 who have played every game (second only to Brisbane’s 15), and have made only 16 changes. Collingwood is second-lowest at 21.

Statistically at least, Tim Kelly has been the Eagles best player. He’s played every game, averages 28.6 possessions and has polled 26 of the entire team’s 69 votes in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year.

Dom Sheed, averaging 25.6 possessions per game in nine games, is next best from Liam Duggan (23.0 in 12 games) and Elliot (20.8 in five games) the only others above 20. Oscar Allen, eighth in League goal-kicking overall with 33 majors, has kicked 29% of the Eagles goals. Jake Waterman (11) and Jack Darling (11) are next best from Kelly (7).