In Jim Main's series, 'Swan Songs', on great players from the past, this week he talks to Swans Hall of Fame inductee, Barry Round...

Barry Round
Born: January 26, 1950
Played: 1976-1985
Games: 193
Goals: 157

There is a new pecking order in former Swan hero Barry Round’s football life.

Although the Swans remain by far his favourite team, the new Gold Coast franchise has pushed the Western Bulldogs to one side.

Round, who shifted to the Gold Coast three years ago, has taken a keen interest in the Suns’ development, while he also keeps a close eye on his original club, the Bulldogs.

And, at a state level, he watches son David play for Palm Beach, coached by former Swan Craig O’Brien.

Round played 135 games with the Bulldogs from 1969-75 before joining the Swans for the start of the 1976 season. And, of course, he made a massive impression in the red and white as club captain from 1980-84 and sharing Brownlow Medal honours with Fitzroy’s Bernie Quinlan in 1981.

The big fellow therefore was an obvious selection as an original Swans’ Hall of Fame inductee in 2009, adding further to his long list of honours.

“It is right up there with anything I achieved in football and I was delighted for all the new inductees at the recent ceremony in Sydney,” Round said.

Round, as a Hall of Fame inductee, was an honoured guest at the 2011 ceremony, adding further to his incredible list of invitations through football fame.

He annually is invited to the Brownlow Medal dinner and, as an inductee into the Australian Hall of Fame, he also gets invited to these annual inductions and dinners.

Then, as an AFL life member, he gets invited to the Grand Final each year and soaks up the atmosphere at various lunches in the lead-up to the big match.

“It’s pretty good,” he chuckled. “I get to go to a lot of prestigious functions and, best of all, I get to drink my favourite beer - free beer.”

Round was raised in Victoria’s Gippsland region, with Footscray recruiting him as a zone selection from Warragul. He made an immediate impression with the Bulldogs but, at the time, they had a plethora of ruckmen, including Ian “Bluey” Hampshire and Brownlow Medal winner Gary Dempsey.

Round therefore was seen as surplus to requirements and was offered to both South Melbourne and Geelong. It now is part of football folklore that Round selected the Swans because it meant less travelling to training.

One of the most courageous footballers to pull on a Swan guernsey, Round won praise coach from Ian Stewart for one incredible performance with South.

Although Round had been in hospital with a blood infection until little more than 24 hours before the match, he was rated as one of the best on the ground and Stewart quipped that a doctor would seek a second opinion if Round had been declared dead.

The big-hearted ruckman was an expert tap to smaller teammates, but also was a dangerous pinch-hitter up forward as he was a superb overhead mark.

Round had the uncanny ability to stretch his arms to their full extent, making it almost impossible for opponents to outmark him or knock the ball clear.

Round, who gave the Swans great service after the club relocated to Sydney in 1982, was afforded a rare honour when he was one of several past champions, including triple Brownlow Medal winner Bob Skilton, to greet the team immediately after the 2005 Grand Final defeat of West Coast.

“That’s right up there as well,” Round enthused before adding: “There have been quite a few good moments, haven’t there?”