Luke Parker now stands equal at the top of the Sydney Swans triple-figure winner’s list after leading his side to the equal biggest win and the second highest score in club history on Saturday.
The 31.19 (205) to 5.4 (34) win over West Coast at the SCG was the club’s 21st win of 100-points or more and Parker’s sixth, equalling the record of Mark Bayes and Jarrad McVeigh.
It was Dane Rampe’s fifth as he climbed to the second tier of triple-figure wins alongside Jude Bolton, Warwick Capper, Rod Carter, Daryn Cresswell, Andrew Dunkley, Heath Grundy, Dan Hannebery, Craig Holden, Kieren Jack, Paul Kelly, Tony Morwood, Michael O’Loughlin, Nick Smith and Stevie Wright.
Jake Lloyd enjoyed his fourth win of 100-points or more, Harry Cunningham, Tom Papley and Isaac Heeney their third, and Lewis Melican and Callum Mills their second in what was the biggest win ever at the SCG, and the third-highest score at the SCG.
And 15 players, ranging in experience from 144-gamer Tom Hickey to seven-gamer Angus Sheldrick, walked off the SCG having pocketed their first win of 100-points or more – Joel Amartey, Nick Blakey, Braeden Campbell, Ryan Clarke, Ollie Florent, Robbie Fox, Aaron Francis, Errol Gulden, Hickey, Logan McDonald, Justin McInerney, Hayden McLean, James Rowbottom, Sheldrick and Chad Warner.
The demolition of the Eagles, which added 15.0 per cent to the Sydney’s 2023 percentage, was the fourth-biggest win in AFL history, behind’s Fitzroy’s 190-point thumping of Melbourne at Waverley in 1979.
And it was the biggest in the AFL since Geelong’s 186-point win over Melbourne at Geelong in 2011, which saw Demons coach Dean Bailey sacked the following day.
When Hayden McLean kicked truly to bring up the double-ton after Isaac Heeney (five goals) and Joel Amartey (four goals) had posted equal career-best hauls it was the Swans’ third double-ton, the 31st in AFL history, and the first in the AFL since Geelong in 2011.
It was John Longmire’s sixth win of 100-points or more as Sydney coach. He leads the club’s 100-point coaching win count from Rodney Eade’s four from 1997-2001 and Tom Hafey’s four in 1986-87.
Seven other Swans coaches were at the helm of one win of 100-points or more: Paul Roos (2006), Ron Barassi (1995), John Northey (1985), Herbie Matthews (1955), Jack Bisset (1933), Johnny Leonard (1932) and Bert Howson (1919).
The Swans’ second win of 100-points or more over West Coast – the biggest loss in West Coast history – puts West Coast fourth on the Swans’ list of biggest victories. They have three wins of 100-point or more against Geelong, Melbourne and St Kilda, two against West Coast and Richmond, and one each against Fremantle, GWS, North Melbourne, Adelaide, Fitzroy, Essendon, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.
It was the club’s 13th win of 100 points or more at the SCG after four at the old South Melbourne headquarters at Lake Oval, and one each at the MCG, Marvel Stadium, the Bulldogs’ home at Whitten Oval and St Kilda’s Moorabbin.
The 171-point winning margin equalled the Swans’ record margin at Lake Oval against St Kilda in Round 12, 1919, when they won 29.15 (189) to 2.6 (18). Harold Robertson, who only kicked 93 career goals in 64 games from 1917-23, booted 14 – twice his next biggest haul. Harry Brereton, who only played 17 games for the club from 1919-21 after 85 games at Melbourne, kicked six goals.
The total score on Saturday of 31.19 (205) is four points higher than that which the Swans posted against West Coast at the SCG in Round 16, 1987, when Stevie Wright kicked eight goals and Warwick Capper five. It is behind only the 36.20 (236) against Essendon a week later, when they won by 163 points after Capper kicked six goals, Wright five and Gerard Healy four.
These games were the first two legs of an extraordinary three-week scoring blitz. They kicked 31.12 (198) to beat Richmond at the SCG in Round 18, with Capper and Merv Neagle kicking five apiece.
Sydney’s 50 scoring shots on Saturday is the fifth highest in club history, behind the 56 scoring shots against Essendon in the second leg of the 1987 super-blitz, when they strung together three of the top four scores in club history and an aggregate 98.51 (639) against 36.31 (219).
Among the current playing group Sheldrick was the second quickest to a winning ‘ton’, behind Jake Lloyd, who was in his sixth game when the Swans beat Geelong by 110 points at the SCG in Round 11, 2014.
Hickey’s 144 career games represents the longest wait among the 2023 list, while Florent’s 132-game wait is most Sydney games among the current players.
Ironically, Bayes, who shares the club record for most wins of 100-points or more, also shares the longest wait for his first win of 100-points or more at 210 games in 1995. This equalled the wait of Vic Belcher, whose only triple-figure triumph came in the club’s first in 1919.
Five Swans players were treated to a triple-figure triumph on debut – Jamie Duursma, John Ironmonger, Darren McAsey and Mark Russell in Round 1, 1985, when they beat St Kilda by 110 points at Moorabbin in coach Northey’s debut, and Irishman Tommy Walsh in Round 8, 2012 – a 101-point won over Melbourne at the SCG.
Queenslander Brent Green enjoyed his first triple-figure win in his Swans debut and his sixth game overall in Round 3, 1998 – a 103-point win over Geelong at the SCG.
