Fifteen years ago, on Sunday March 31, 2002, Barry Hall made his debut for the Sydney Swans.

It was a Round 1 Sunday afternoon clash at the SCG against defending premiers Brisbane as the former St Kilda strongman, traded over summer to the Harbour City, pulled on the red and white #1 jumper for the first time.

The Swans, having been knocked out in the first week of the 2001 finals, went into the new season with a new-look key forward set-up.

Lining up alongside the boom recruit was the legendary Tony Lockett, who had made a comeback at age 36, after two years in retirement.

And while the Lockett experiment amounted to just three games as injury got the better of the game’s all-time leading goal-kicker, it was the beginning of a wonderful union for Hall and the Swans.

Hall, the former Murray Bushrangers product born in the small town of Broadford in central Victoria and originally taken at #19 in the 1995 AFL National Draft, had played 88 games for St Kilda from 1996-2001 and kicked 144 goals.

He had been the Saints leading goal-kicker in 1999 and 2001, had played in a losing 1997 grand final against Adelaide, and kicked a goal after the final siren in Round 22, 2001 to beat Hawthorn in what turned out to be his last game for the club.

But at 25, and with Saints coach Grant Thomas having recruited Fraser Gehrig from West Coast and drafted Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke, Hall decided he was better placed playing under Rodney Eade in Sydney.

In a complicated three-way trade, Hall moved north in exchange for selections 13, 17 and 45 in the 2001 AFL National Draft.

St Kilda drafted Nick Dal Santo at #13, got Heath Black from Fremantle for #17, which ultimately was used by Geelong to secure James Kelly, and sent #45 to Brisbane for Trent Knobel.

It turned out to be a boom trade for the Swans, as Hall, who thrived in the relative anonymity of Sydney in comparison to the pressure-packed lifestyle of Melbourne, went on to become one of the club’s all-time greats.

When the Swans finally ended a 72-year premiership drought against West Coast in 2005 it was Hall, then co-captain with Brett Kirk and Leo Barry after Stuart Maxfield stepped down early in the season, who stood alongside coach Paul Roos to lift the Cup.

Hall served immediate notice that he would be a valuable pick-up for the Swans, kicking four goals from 14 disposals and six marks on debut in the red and white. However, the Swans lost the match after squandering a 23-point lead to go down to the Lions by the same margin.

Lockett kicked one goal before injury cut short his comeback. He later played in Rounds 10 and 12 but was never really right and retired again.

Hall went on to play 162 games for the Swans from 2002-09, including 14 finals and the 2005-06 grand finals. He shared the captaincy with Barry and Kirk in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The powerful forward kicked 467 goals to rank third on Sydney’s all-time goal-kicking list behind Bob Pratt (681) and Michael O’Loughlin (521) and ahead of Adam Goodes (464), Lockett (462) and Bob Skilton (412).

He was the Swans’ leading goal-kicker seven years in a row from 2002-08, was runner-up in the Coleman Medal in 2005, All-Australian in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and was the AFL Coach’s Association Player of the Year in 2005.

Hall won the Swans best and fairest award in 2004 and in five years from 2002-06 he finished 6^th-4^th-1^st-2^nd-4^th in the coveted Bob Skilton Medal.

When he played his 100^th game for the Swans against Hawthorn in Round 9, 2007, Hall became the first and only player in South Melbourne/Sydney history to play 100 games in jumper #1.

It had been something of a bogey milestone for the Swans after jumper numbers were introduced in the 1911 finals.

Charlie Ricketts, who played 82 games from 1906-12, was the first player to wear #1 but switched to Richmond and later St Kilda after just 16 games at the top of the numeric player list.

Paddy Scanlon played 100 games for South from 1920-26 but his first 37 games were in #23 before he switched to #1.

Three others got close – Jack Bissett played 90 games from 1932-36 in #1 after switching from Richmond, Don Keyter played 86 games in #1 from 1953-58 and Roos played 87 games in #1 from 1995-99.

Hall, who played his last game with the Swans in Round 13, 2009, finished his career with 39 games for the Western Bulldogs in 2010-11.

And when he kicked his 100^th goal for the Dogs in Round 17, 2011, six games from the end of his career, he became the first player in AFL history to kick 100 goals for three different clubs.

Having turned 40 in January this year the often colourful and always combative full forward has forged a fine reputation in retirement as a Fox Footy commentator.

He now lives on the Gold Coast, is a part-time forwards coach with the Gold Coast Suns, and recently committed to play a minimum five games in the 2017 QAFL season with Labrador, coached by former Brisbane premiership player Aaron Shattock.