It's official – we've won the 2024 Minor Premiership. It’s the 10th time the Swans have achieved the feat, so to mark the occasion Peter Blucher takes a look back on the history of our minor premierships.

1996 – A Lifetime Later …

It was a long, long wait between the Swans’ sixth minor premiership and the grand final in 1945 and their seventh minor premiership of 1996. The club had played no less than 1039 games, including six finals losses, and moved from Lake Oval to the SCG, adopting the name ‘Sydney’ and a new jumper featuring the Opera House.

It was an entirely different football world from a 1945 season in which home-and-away games were split between Princes Park, Victoria Park, Windy Hill, Kardinia Park, Punt Road, Junction Oval, Glenferrie Oval, Brunswick Street, Whitten Oval and Arden St, and all four finals were played at Princes Park, with the MCG unavailable due to the Second World War.

By ’96 all but Princes Park, Kardinia Park and Whitten Oval were off the schedule. The League had added the Brisbane Bears and the West Coast Eagles to the competition in 1987, followed by the Adelaide Crows in 1991 and Fremantle Dockers in 1995 ahead of Port Adelaide Power in 1997. The Gabba in Brisbane,  Football  Park in Adelaide, Subiaco and the WACA in Perth had joined the match schedule, which had also seen the addition of Waverley Park in 1970.

Ron Barassi, who had answered an SOS to coach the Swans part way through 1993, put up the ‘job done’ sign at the end of 1995 having restored credibility to the club. The new man in charge, chosen from the hottest of fields, was four-time Hawthorn premiership star and 1991 Brisbane Bears reserves premiership coach Rodney Eade.

The club recruited Stuart Maxfield, Kevin Dyson and Craig O’Brien after adding the key signatures of Paul Roos and Tony Lockett in 1995, when they’d finished 12^th at 8-14.

Game #1 under Eade was a disaster. They lost by 90 points to Adelaide at Football Park, but by Round 5 they were in the top 8, and there they stayed. At Rounds 15-16 they were on top, and again in Round 19-20, but they went into Round 22 sitting second behind the Bears. Both had a 15-1-5 record, but the Sydney percentage of 122.5 was inferior to Brisbane’s 130.2

Brisbane had played 11^th-placed Collingwood at Victoria Park on the Saturday afternoon in Round 22 and were upset by 49 points. Andrew Schauble (three votes) and Paul Williams (one vote) were key figures in the Magpies win not knowing at the time that they, plus teammates Scott Russell, Robbie AhMat and Mark Orchard, would all later play for the Swans.

So when Sydney hit the SCG on the Saturday night to take on 3^rd-placed West Coast they knew what they had to do. They just had to win. And after a 5-5 to 1-2 first quarter, they were never headed. They prevailed by 35 points as Daryn Cresswell (three votes) and Greg Stafford (two votes) led the way.

So Sydney at 16-1-5 won the minor premiership from North Melbourne (16-6), Brisbane (15-1-7), West Coast (15-7), Carlton (15-7), Essendon (14-1-7), Geelong (13-1-8) and Hawthorn (11-1-10).

Along the way Matthew Nicks had debuted in Round 3, and in a mega milestone party Roos played his 300^th game and Maxfield his 100^th against North in Round 11 as the Roos’ Wayne Schwass, later to play with the Swans, notched his 150^th.

Tony Lockett kicked 12 goals against Richmond in Round 14 to bring up his second ‘ton’ in as many years in red and white and win his third Coleman Medal after he’d been runner-up to Geelong’s Gary Ablett Sr in 1995, when Lockett kicked 110 goals and Ablett 118.

They beat Hawthorn by six points at the SCG in the qualifying final for the club’s first finals win since 15 September 1945. A fortnight later they got home against Essendon with arguably the most famous behind in Swans history – a 45m set shot from ‘Plugger’ after the siren for a one-point win and a spot in the grand final.

And it was not just a grand final … it was the Centenary Grand Final in the 100^th year of football.

There was drama aplenty in the lead-up when, on the Wednesday, Swans fullback Andrew Dunkley, the anticipated match-up for North champion Wayne Carey, was reported on video evidence for striking Essendon’s James Hird in the preliminary final. The following day the Swans secured a Supreme Court injection to prevent the case being heard before the grand final on the basis that to proceed on such a tight timeframe would be a denial of natural justice.

So, despite an injury cloud over Lockett, coach Eade took an unchanged side into the grand final, which was to be a new experience for all but Derek Kickett. He’d played in Essendon’s losing grand final in 1990 before being left out of the 1993 side in the catalyst to his move to the Swans. Dunkley, later suspended for three matches, played his 100^th game in the grand final.

In the lead-up to the ‘big one’ captain Paul Kelly, Roos and Lockett were included in the All-Australian side and polled 14 votes apiece in the Brownlow Medal to head the Sydney count. Shannon Grant had finished second to West Coast’s Ben Cousins in the AFL Rising Star Award.

North, coming off three unsuccessful finals campaigns in 1993, 1994 and 1995, had enjoyed an easier run to the grand final, beating Geelong by 60 points and Brisbane by 38 points at the MCG, and started slight favorites.

But in front of 93,102 people, Sydney were better early and led 6.2 (38) to 3.2 (20) at quarter-time. After a Jason Mooney major they were four goals up before Glen Freeborn sparked a Roos rally. The tide turned, and after four more quick goals North led by two points at halftime.

At halftime North coach Denis Pagan, who had finished his 143-game playing career with 23 games at South Melbourne 1975-76, swung Corey McKernan into the ruck to replace Matthew Capuano. Having tied in the Brownlow Medal count with Hird and Brisbane’s Michael Voss when ineligible, and having won the Players’ Association Player of the Year, he gave the Roos enormous drive out of the middle on his way to a team-high 29 possessions.

The Roos out-scored the Swans 11.10 to 5.5 in the second half to win by 43 points, with Glenn Archer awarded the Norm Smith Medal as best afield. Best for the Swans was Roos (25 possessions),Kelly (24), Daryn Cresswell (35 possessions, one goal), Adam Heuskes (25 possessions) and Lockett (six goals).

It wasn’t the result Swans fans had dreamed of, but in 12 months coach Eade, captain Paul Kelly and their team had done a magnificent job in restoring respect and credibility to the red and white.

2014 –  Welcome to Sydney, Bud

The Swans pulled off one of the great recruiting coups in AFL history ahead of the 2014 season, snaring the game’s best player and hottest marketing property in Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.

Having played finals 11 times in the first 14 years of the 21^st century and won the flag in 2005 and 2012, they overcame a sluggish start to their fourth year under coach John Longmire to claim their first minor premiership since 1996.

Beaten in the first two rounds by GWS and Collingwood, who would finish 16^th and 11^th, they sat 13^th on the ladder at Round 4 before 12 wins in a row. They got to the top of the ladder in Round 16, and after slipping to 2^nd in Rounds 19-20, effectively stitched up top spot when they beat the Western Bulldogs in Round 22 at Marvel Stadium, when Franklin kicked six goals to clinch his third Coleman Medal.

They were a game and 6.8% ahead of second-placed Hawthorn going into the last round, when they faced 8^th-placed Richmond, who needed a win to play finals. And despite falling by three points to the Tigers at Stadium Australia they claimed the minor premiership by 2.1% with a 17-5 record and a percentage of 142.9.

In major milestones, Rhyce Shaw played his 100^th Sydney game as Franklin made his Sydney debut in Round 1 and Nick Smith his 100^th in Round 2. After Jake Lloyd debuted in Round 5 Shaw clocked his 200^th AFL game in Round 7, Heath Grundy and Kieren Jack their 150^th for the Swans in Rounds 12-13. Franklin played his 200^th AFL game in Round 21 and Lewis Jetta his 100^th game in Round 23.

Franklin, Josh Kennedy, Nick Malceski and Nick Smith won All-Australian selection after Luke Parker had also been included in the 44-man squad before the Swans began their finals campaign with a 24-point win over fourth-placed Fremantle at Stadium Australia. And after a week off they thumped North Melbourne by 71 points in the preliminary final at the same venue as Adam Goodes celebrated his 350^th game.

Franklin polled 22 votes to finish third in the Brownlow Medal, equal with Gold Coast’s Gary Ablett and behind only West Coast’s Matt Priddis (26) and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe (25), while Josh Kennedy (21) was equal fifth.

Coach Longmire took an unchanged line-up into a grand final, which saw the dream match-up of Franklin against his former club Hawthorn, who had survived a late scare to get over Port Adelaide by three points in the preliminary final. Cyril Rioli, having not played in the AFL since Round 15, was included for Hawthorn after a ‘fitness test’ the week before in the VFL grand final.

But in front of 99,454 people at the MCG, at the time the third-biggest crowd in history for a Swans game, the Franklin fairytale came up short. The Swans trailed by 42 points at halftime and went down 11.8 (74) to 21.11 (137) as Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge won his second Norm Smith Medal.

2016 – A Round 23 Shoot-Out

Twenty years after the 1996 minor premiership, as the ‘new breed’ of the Swans started to emerge, the club won its seventh minor premiership in 2016 in what became an extraordinary Round 23 shoot-out.

Going into the final round of the home-and-away season, four teams were locked together on 60 premiership points, with three more together on 60 points. It was Sydney, Adelaide, Geelong and Hawthorn at 16-5, and GWS, West Coast and Western Bulldogs at 15-6.

The Swans, with a percentage of 145.1, had a narrow edge over the Crows at 142.3. The Cats were not so far back at 137.7% that they were out of contention, and if all went awry for the top four in Round 23, GWS, with a percentage of 142.5, were poised to pounce.

The change in player personnel was undeniable. After Adam Goodes, Rhyce Shaw and Mike Pyke had retired in 2015 and Lewis Jetta had moved to West Coast, Ted Richards and Ben McGlynn went in to what would be the last season.

And after Isaac Heeney had debuted in 2015, Round 1 of 2016 gave Swans fans their first look at at Callum Mills, Tom Papley and George Hewett. Callum Sinclair had arrived from West Coast, and later in the season Sudanese-born Aliir Aliir, drafted in 2013, made his long-awaited debut.

There was a curious symmetry about the first half of the season as the Swans progressed in four-game blocks of win-win-win-loss. And at Round 12 they sat 3^rd on the ladder. They fluctuated between 2^nd-3^rd-4^th through to Round 21 before a nine-point win over North Melbourne in Hobart in Round 22 saw them slide to the top in the great ladder logjam.

Along the way Dan Hannebery and Nick Smith had played their 150^th game, and Nick Malceski, Heath Grundy and Kieren Jack their 200^th.

The possibilities in Round 23 were endless, but Adelaide were immediately out of the mix when they lost to West Coast on the Friday night. In the early Saturday game Geelong thumped Melbourne by 111 points to boost their percentage by 6.1% to 143.8. It was ‘on’.

But the Swans were equal to the challenge. Lance Franklin kicked seven goals and McGlynn five as they belted 13^th-placed Richmond by 113 points at the SCG to clinch top spot.

The Swans won five spots in the All-Australian squad – and five spots in the team. Luke Parker and Dane Rampe claimed their first All Australia blazers, Josh Kennedy and Dan Hannebery their third, and Franklin his sixth, as he headed towards #7 in 2017 and #8 in 2018, when he would be honored with the All-Australian captaincy.

Sydney lost by  36 points to GWS at Stadium Australia in their cross-town rivals’ first final, but bounced back hard to beat Adelaide by 36 points at the SCG and Geelong by 37 points at the MCG.

Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield polled 35 votes in the Brownlow Medal to finish nine votes clear of Parker (26), with Hannebery (21) tied for fifth and Franklin and Kennedy (17) tied for 15^th.

There was one thing left to do, as Jarrad McVeigh and Callum Mills replaced Harrison Marsh and the injured Aliir Aliir for the grand final. Sadly for Swans fans, it didn’t happen. The Bulldogs, who had come from seventh on the home-and-away ladder, came from two points down at halftime to win 13.11 (89) to 10.7 (67) in front of 99,981 – the second-biggest Swans crowd all-time. Josh Kennedy had 34 possessions and three goals to be his side’s best as the Dogs’ Liam Picken won the Norm Smith Medal.