Co-captains Luke Parker and Dane Rampe and born-again ‘veteran’ Harry Cunningham will go into Friday night’s MCG elimination final against Carlton as the sole survivors of the last time the sides met in a final.

It was the 2013 elimination final at Stadium Australia. The Swans, having qualified fourth, were looking to bounce back from a nine-goal qualifying final loss to Hawthorn, faced a Blues outfit that had snuck into eighth spot with a one-point win in the last round and got over Richmond by 20 points in the elimination final.

Coach John Longmire lost Ben McGlynn to a calf injury and dropped a young Gary Rohan to include a 19-year-old Cunningham for his finals debut in just his fifth game, and a 22-year-old Shane Biggs for his second game.

Sydney, who had beaten Carlton by 22 points at the SCG in their previous meeting of the season, overcame the early loss of Tom Mitchell to an ankle injury to lead at each change.

They were always going like winners. So much so that they were able to go scoreless in the final quarter and still win by 24 points after being 54 points up at three-quarter time.

Jarrad McVeigh had a career-best 42 possessions and kicked two goals to be best afield. Four other Swans topped 30 possessions – Dan Hannebery (33), Heath Grundy (32), Kieren Jack (30) and Ryan O’Keefe (30) – as Parker (22 possessions, three goals) led the goal count with McVeigh, Jack and Cunningham, with two each.

It was a wonderful celebration for Nick Malceski in his 150^th game and Hannebery in his 100^th as the Swans qualified for a Subiaco preliminary final against Fremantle.

The last Sydney side to play Carlton in a final (in notional positions only) was:

B: Nick Smith, Heath Grundy, Dane Rampe
HB: Nick Malceski, Ted Richards, Andrej Everitt
C: Jarrad McVeigh, Josh Kennedy, Craig Bird
HF: Dan Hannebery, Jesse White, Ryan O’Keefe
F: Mike Pyke, Kurt Tippett, Kieren Jack
R: Shane Mumford, Luke Parker, Jude Bolton
INT: Tom Mitchell, Harry Cunningham, Shane Biggs, Lewis Jetta (Sub)

This was the last of 11 finals between the clubs and only the third since 1945 after a rich rivalry in the early years included four grand final meetings in 1907, ’09, ’14 and ‘45.

The most famous final between the Swans and the Blues was the 1945 grand final at Carlton’s Princes Park headquarters, played shortly after the end of World War II and forever known as ‘The Bloodbath Grand Final”.

South Melbourne had finished top of the home-and-away ladder with a 16-4 record and beat second-placed Collingwood by 11 points in the major semi-final to qualify for the grand final. Carlton qualified fourth at 13-7 and beat North Melbourne by 26 points and Collingwood by 10 points.

In their first season under coach Bill Adams, the Swans were led by captain Herbie Matthews, Jim Cleary and Jack Graham, and 99^th-gamer Laurie Nash, who had kicked 56 goals to rank fourth in League goal-kicking.

In front of a crowd of 62,986 Carlton led at every change and won 15.13 (103) to 10.15 (75), but the post-mortem was all about a string of violent incidents in which nine players were reported on a total of 15 charges.

It is accepted that the vicious stuff started when South’s Jack ‘Basher’ Williams ko’d Carlton youngster Ken Hands off the ball in the second quarter, prompting an exchange that involved most players.

As rain fell in the third quarter Carlton captain Bob Chitty felled South youngster Ted Whitfield, before all hell broke loose early in the final term when Chitty was put down behind the play. Carlton’s Jim Mooring was flattened by South’s Don Grossman, and 17-year-old Swan Ron Clegg followed at the hands of Ken Hands.

It reached farcical proportions, then, when suspended Carlton player Jim Fitzgibbon ran onto the ground to get involved in the brawl. Later, Whitfield was reported for attempting to strike goal umpire Les Whyte, and as his number was being taken Whitfield lifted his jumper and ran away in an attempt to conceal his playing number.

Whitfield was later suspended until 31 December 1946 and soon after was sacked by the club, while Williams was suspended for eight weeks for fighting and four weeks for abusive language, and Grossman, Cleary, Chitty and Carlton’s Ron Savage each got eight weeks for striking.

Carlton also beat South in the 1907 grand final 6.14 (50) to 6.9 (45) and the 1914 grand final 6.9 (45) to 4-.5 (39), but South turned the tables in 1909, when they prevailed 4.14 (38) to 4.12 (36).

In the 2010 elimination final Sydney, without any of the current players under Paul Roos, beat Carlton 14.15 (99) to 13.16 (94) at the Olympic Stadium after leading by 24 points at halftime and trailing by seven points at three-quarter time.

Josh Kennedy (29), Nick Malceski (27), Adam Goodes (24) and McVeigh (24) led the way with Trent Dennis-Lane kicked four goals in just his seventh game. and Paul Bevan (3 goals).

And in the 1986 qualifying final, the Swans, having finished second on the home-and-away ladder under Tom Hafey, fell 15.14 (104) to 18.12 (120) to Carlton in the first leg of a straight sets exit. Greg Williams (27 possessions, 2 goals), Gerard Healy (20 possessions, 2 goals) and Paul Hawke (18 possessions, 3 goals) were the Swans stars.