If John Longmire was a student of cricket history, he’d know the origins of the famous saying “cometh the hour, cometh the man”.

He’d know it came from an English tail-end batsman in the 1^st Test of the 1948 Test series against South Africa in Durban. And the story behind it.

And as he reflected on the Swans’ stunning three-point win over Collingwood at the SCG on Friday night he might have remembered a special moment in his own career, and a freakish coincidence involving a repeat hero.

Gladwin was a 32-year-old fast bowler from Derbyshire who played two Tests for England in 1947 but was overlooked for the 1948 home series against the famous Australian ‘Invincibles’, captained by Don Bradman.

He was recalled for England’s South African tour, and unwittingly found himself at the centre of one of Test cricket’s most famous moments.

In fading light on a wicket providing every assistance for the South African bowlers, England needed eight runs off the last over to win. Gladwin, the No.10 batsman, was at the crease with No.9 Alec Bedser, a 30-year-old fast bowler who was the 1947 Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

After the last ball hit Gladwin on the thigh they scampered through for a single to claim what 76 years later is still the only last ball win in Test cricket history

As the story goes, Gladwin and Bedser shared a lively “one-step” (which is called a foxtrot these days) as they left and ground, before Gladwin, playing the third of his eight Test matches, unleashed with the strongest of English accents his now famous one-liner … "Coometh the hour, coometh the man."

Longmire might have been thinking exactly the same thing after Isaac Heeney produced one of the greatest final quarters of football in Swans history on Friday night.

Heeney had 15 possessions, four inside 50s, three clearances, two contested marks and a goal in the last term as the Swans kicked the last five goals of the game after being 21 points down at three-quarter time.

He finished with 32 possessions, one short of his career-best, plus seven clearances, eight score involvements and a goal to post his first 500-possession season.

Warner, with 33 possessions, eight clearances, eight score involvements and a goal, now has 496 possessions for the year and will notch his third 500-plus season against Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

Matt Roberts, too, considered his hot streak with 25 possessions – his fifth consecutive game of 20-plus possessions in his 25^th game. He’s gone 22-23-36-20-25.

And ex-Collingwood pair Taylor Adams and Brodie Grundy enjoyed the win for different reasons … Grundy retained his unbeaten record in now three games against the Magpies, having beaten them once playing with Melbourne and in Round 1 with the Swans this year, and Adams, in his first game for Sydney against Collingwood, had his first win against the Pies after going 0-2 against them playing with GWS.

It was what the media labelled ‘crisis time’ at the SCG on Friday night after the ladder leaders had lost five of their previous six matches after a 13-1 start, and it followed a 112 point loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval six days earlier.

And when Collingwood kicked the first goal of the final term to go 28 points up the commentators were talking of how the Swans would lose top spot on the ladder if Brisbane beat GWS on Saturday.

But … cometh the hour, cometh the man.

With a similarly blistering final term from Chad Warner, and a steely resolve from every member of the side, the Swans iced a massive weekend as part of the club’s ongoing 150^th year celebrations.

The night before 2005 premiership coach Paul Roos was elevated to the lofty status of “Bloods Champion” and 2012 premiership players Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Smith, Heath Grundy and Kieren Jack were inducted into the Swans Hall of Fame.

It would have been a ‘downer’ if the team had floundered, but, not for the first time Heeney came to the rescue of a Longmire side in big trouble at three-quarter time.

The statistics don’t count such things, but Longmire and Heeney will remember fondly the first time it happened.

It was Round 1, 2015 against Essendon at Stadium Australia in Longmire’s 100^th game as coach. The Swans trailed 3.8 (26) to 9.6 (60) at the last change but out-scored the Bombers 7-4 to nil in the fourth term to win by two goals.

Fittingly, the Sydney side that night included Grundy, Smith and captain Jack, who collected two Brownlow Medal votes as his side’s best, plus Dane Rampe, Harry Cunningham, Luke Parker and medical substitute Jake Lloyd. McVeigh was injured.

The 34-point three-quarter time deficit that night is the biggest in Swans history they have turned into a win. Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett kicked two goals apiece in the final stanza, with Franklin’s second of the term and his third of the night putting the Swans in front.

But in a final quarter that would run 38min 43sec there were still 7min 32sec to play.

Who kicked the clincher? The 18-year-old debutant from the QBE Sydney Swans Academy who had inherited the #5 jumper from 286-game club great Ryan O’Keefe, who had broken the 260-game #5 record of John Rantall … Heeney.

He gathered an errant clearing handpass from Essendon’s David Zaharakis, and on his left from 30m kicked truly before being mobbed by his teammates. It was his first goal.

Heeney’s 252^nd goal in his 197^th game on Friday night was just as sweet to end probably his toughest week as a Swans player.

The Swans’ 112-point loss to Port Adelaide was the biggest in AFL history by a side sitting on the top of the ladder.   

History said it was going to be one almighty challenge to turn it around against the defending premiers, who were coming off a sizzling win in Scott Pendlebury’s 400^th game and needing another win to keep their finals hopes alive.

After 11 of the previous 14 triple-figure losses, going all the way back to 1939, the Swans had lost the following week by an average six goals. Twice it was the end of the season, and only once had they turned a monumental loss into a win.

It must be a Collingwood thing. Because the only winning turnaround of this magnitude was against the Magpies at Waverley in Round 13, 1976 after they’d copped a 104-point loss to Geelong at Kardinia Park in Round 12.

It was 11th-placed South Melbourne, in their first season under coach Ian Stewart, against a 7^th-placed Collingwood side which included in jumper #24 for his 25^th game, future Swans CEO and director Andrew Ireland, now an AFL Commissioner.

The Pies led by eight points at quarter-time, but with Stewart Gull kicking six goals at full forward, the Swans won 17.19 (121) to 11.16 (82) to give future Brownlow Medallist Graham Teasdale a special 21^st birthday present and veteran #5 Rantall his 100^th AFL win in his 257^th game.