Ahead of our historic Round 1 game against West Coast at the new Optus Stadium, we take a look back at Sydney’s time at Perth’s former home of football, Subiaco Oval.
The Sydney Swans played in the second AFL game at Subiaco against West Coast on 12 April 1987. It was Round 2, after the Eagles had christened the ground in Round 1 against the Brisbane Bears, who had joined the competition with them that year.
It was one of the Swans’ great wins in Perth as they kicked 6.7 (43) to 1.0 (6) in the further quarter to get home by 27 points after being 10 points down at three-quarter time.
Warwick Capper kicked five goals, Bayes four and Stevie Wright three, while Greg Williams and Gerard Healy had 33 possessions and Barry Mitchell 31. Williams picked up three Brownlow votes and Capper one.
The Swans first team to play at Subiaco, not necessarily in actual playing positions, was:
B: David Bolton, Rod Carter, Glen Coleman
HB: Mark Browning, Dennis Carroll (c), Bernard Toohey
C: David Murphy, Greg Williams, Merv Neagle
HF: Craig Holden, Mark Bayes, Tony Morwood
F: Stevie Wright, Warwick Capper, Ian Roberts
R: John Ironmonger, Gerard Healy, Barry Mitchell
INT: Craig Potter, Wayne Henwood
COACH: Tom Hafey.
In the 33 Swans games at Subiaco that followed, Capper’s five-goal haul was bettered only once by a Swans player – Tony Lockett kicked six against Fremantle in 1998.
Barry Hall kicked five goals in a game at Subiaco for the Swans twice, and Peter Filandia did so once, while Mark Bayes, Darren Ogier, Matthew Nicks, Hall (twice), Michael O’Loughlin, Ryan O’Keefe, Lewis Jetta and Isaac Heeney kicked four.
Hall, with 29 goals in eight games for the Swans at Subiaco, was the club’s all-time leading goal-kicker at the ground, followed by O’Loughlin (21), Adam Goodes (20), Lockett (11), Ryan O’Keefe (11) and Jude Bolton (10).
Goodes played the most games for the Swans at Subiaco (20), followed by Jude Bolton (17) and Jarrad McVeigh (17), O’Keefe (16), O’Loughlin (15), Brett Kirk (14), Ted Richards (13), Heath Grundy (13), Kieren Jack (12), Leo Barry (12), Josh Kennedy (11), Dan Hannebery (10), Tadhg Kennelly (10), Stuart Maxfield (10), Craig Bolton (10), Jared Crouch (10) and Ben Mathews (10).
Kennedy had a career-best 45 possessions against Fremantle at Subiaco in 2016 to rank equal second at the venue for most possessions in a game behind Steve Malaxos, who had 48 for West Coast in 1987. Matt Crouch, Tom Rockliff and Matthew Boyd also had 45 possessions in a game at Subiaco.
Dan Hannebery immediately fell in love with Subiaco. He had 38-42-40 possessions in his first three games there, and picked up hauls of 31, 41 and 34 in subsequent visits.
Kennedy had four 30-possession games – 31-45-33-39 – while Barry Mitchell, with games of 31 and 37 possessions, was the only other Swans player to top 30 more than once.
Other Swans with a 30-possession game at Subiaco have been Greg Williams (33), Gerard Healy (33), Ben Doolan (34), Paul Roos (30), Paul Kelly (33), Wayne Schwass (35), Ryan O’Keefe (39), Kieren Jack (30), Luke Parker (33) and Jarrad McVeigh (30).
Goodes was the club’s all-time leading possession-winner at Subiaco with 339 from 20 games at an average of 16.95, followed by McVeigh (324 at 19.06), Kennedy (315 at 28.64), Hannebery (293 at 29.30), Kirk (277 at 19.79), Bolton (258 at 21.50), O’Keefe (248 at 15.50), Jack (230 at 19.25), Grundy (212 at 16.31) and O’Loughlin (201 at 13.40).
Hannebery leads Sydney’s Brownlow vote count at Subiaco with 12, followed by Adam Goodes (8), Daryn Cresswell (7), Kieren Jack (7) and Josh Kennedy (5).
Sydney’s biggest win at Subiaco was by 90 points against Fremantle in 2016. Isaac Heeney kicked four goals, while Josh Kennedy and Tom Mitchell booted three each in a 21.11 (137) to 7.5 (47) triumph.
Kennedy’s three goals and 45 possessions made a no-contest of the three Brownlow votes, while Hannebery’s 41 possessions earned him two votes and Mitchell’s 26 possessions and three goals was enough for one vote.
Roos, in charge of the Swans 11 times at Subiaco, coached the club most often at the venue, ahead of John Longmire (10), Rodney Eade (7), Col Kinnear (3), Ron Barassi (1), Tom Hafey (1) and Gary Buckenara (1).
The Swans’ biggest loss at Subiaco was 61 points in 1990 in just their third visit, when David Bolton played his 100th AFL game.
It was a venue where a lot of Swans players enjoyed milestone games, headed by Lockett’s 250th in 1998, Stuart Maxfield’s 200th and final game in 2005, Kirk’s 200th in 2009, and the 150th AFL games for Maxfield (1998), Nicks (2004), Bolton (2009) and Kennedy (2015).
Jason Saddington (2002), Leo Barry (2003), Nick Davis and Nic Fosdike (2004), Craig Bolton (2005) and Shane Mumford (2013) each celebrated their 100th game at Subiaco, while Jason Mooney (1996) and Rowan Warfe (1998) played their 50th games.
The Swans played four finals at Subiaco: a four-point qualifying final loss to West Coast in 2005; a one-point qualifying final win over West Coast in 2006; a 25-point preliminary final win over Fremantle in 2013; and a nine-point qualifying final loss to Fremantle in 2015.
