The lead-up to the Sydney Swans round 8 home match against Melbourne in 2012, which celebrated the Club’s 30 year anniversary in Sydney, saw sydneyswans.com.au collate the 30 Defining Moments of the Swans in Sydney in chronological order.
The 30 Defining Moments were selected by Sydney Swans Chairman, Richard Colless, Deputy Chairman, Andrew McMaster, and Swans Hall of Fame inductee and former Club captain, coach, and director, Rick Quade.
| #1 - The first ‘home’ game in Sydney, 1982 |
 |
| After the VFL’s vote to allow South Melbourne to play 11 home games in Sydney as part of the League’s expansion, the Swans played their first official home game at the SCG on March 28, 1982...read more |
| #2 - Midfield Superstars, 1986 |
 |
| The dynamic midfield duo of Greg Williams and Gerard Healy played a combined 188 games for the Swans during the club’s halcyon days of the mid-to-late eighties...read more |
| #3 - Club’s highest score in history, 1987 |
 |
| Warwick Capper (six goals) and Stephen Wright (five) combined for the Swans, as the team booted 10, eight, and 13 goals in the last three quarters to record a score of 36.20 236 to defeat the Bombers by 163 points...read more |
| #4 - Warwick Capper kicks 100 goals in a season, 1987 |
 |
| Known for his flamboyant style, including the ultra-tight shorts, white boots, long blonde locks and freakish marking ability, Warwick Capper was the number one drawcard in town...read more |
| #5 - QBE becomes major sponsor, 1987 |
 |
| “There is no equivalent relationship that has ever existed between any major sponsor and an Australian sporting team,” Swans Chairman Richard Colless...read more |
| #6 - Ron Barassi appointed senior coach, 1993 |
 |
| “You can worry about methods and tactics, they’re head things, which you’ve got to have as well. But to gain respect from your opponents you need to give a spirited performance - and that’s my task,” Barassi told the media...read more |
| #7 - First win after 26 consecutive losses, 1993 |
 |
| The Swans went to the main change in front by three points after a high-scoring first half, and the small crowd of just 8,250 started to believe that perhaps this would be the day that the losing streak which they had endured since a win over the Brisbane Bears in round 8, 1992, would finally end...read more |
| #8 - Tony Lockett kicks 16 goals v Fitzroy, 1995 |
 |
| Lockett drew on all his experience to put on a goalkicking clinic for the ages in front of a crowd of just over 7,000, the bulk of which would move from one end of the field to the other depending on which end Lockett was kicking towards...read more |
| #9 - Paul Kelly wins Brownlow Medal, 1995 |
 |
| When a 26-year-old from Wagga Wagga, who grew up playing rugby league as well as AFL, became the toast of the AFL on the 25th of September, 1995, it was undoubtedly a defining moment for the club...read more |
| #10 - Paul Roos’ 300th AFL game, 1996 |
 |
| In his 300th game, Roos was outstanding and finished as the leading possession-getter on the ground with 18 kicks, 12 handballs, 11 marks, and two goals. In fading light, Roos was chaired off the ground by his team mates in an phenomenal outpouring of red and white elation...read more |
| #11 - Round 22 win over West Coast to secure minor premiership, 1996 |
 |
| The round 22 win secured the minor premiership for the Swans for the first time since 1945, a finals appearance for the first time since 1987, and most importantly, the club’s first ever home final in Sydney...read more |
| #12 - Tony Lockett’s preliminary final point v Essendon, 1996 |
 |
| The siren sounded as Lockett lined up for goal, and any score would see the Swans into the Grand Final. It took Lockett’s best kick to send the ball 55 metres through for a famous point, and with that, the Swans booked their first Grand Final appearance since being defeated by Carlton in 1945...read more |
| #13 - Grand Final against North Melbourne, 1996 |
 |
| “Support for us was coming from everywhere, the training sessions had media there we never had before and people were talking about us that never had before,” recalled Swans captain at the time, Paul Kelly...read more |
| #14 - SCG record crowd v Geelong, 1997 |
 |
| With so much at stake, and Sydney and Geelong in good form and playing a competitive, high-scoring brand of football, the crowd poured through the SCG turnstiles for the final Swans home game of the season...read more |
| #15 - Tony Lockett kicks his 1300th goal, 1999 |
 |
| Players, security, and thousands of elated fans streamed on to the SCG to gather around Lockett and celebrate the historic moment...read more |
| #16 - Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley’s final game, 2002 |
 |
| The team went into the game knowing it would be the final time their courageous captain Kelly would appear for the Swans. As well as Kelly, the game would also be the last for 217-game star full-back Andrew Dunkley who had been a club stalwart since his debut in 1992...read more |
| #17 - Paul Roos appointed senior coach, 2002 |
 |
| Following the outpouring of support for Roos, there was little doubt he would get the role full-time, and on September 14, 2002, the club announced the appointment of Paul Roos as the Sydney Swans senior coach...read more |
| #18 - Sydney Swans Team of the Century function, 2003 |
 |
| The Sydney Swans announced the Team of the Century at a lavish function in Sydney on the 8th of August, 2003, on the eve of the club’s round 19 Heritage clash against Hawthorn at the SCG...read more |
| #19 - Qualifying final win over Port Adelaide, 2003 |
 |
| The Swans went into the qualifying final against the Power in enemy territory as rank outsiders and without the services of key players Michael O’Loughlin, Jason Ball, Jason Saddington and Ryan O’Keefe who were all missing through injury...read more |
| #20 - Adam Goodes’ Brownlow medals, 2003 & 2006 |
 |
| On the Monday following the Swans 44-point defeat to the Brisbane Lions in the preliminary final, Swans champion Adam Goodes tied with Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and Adelaide’s Mark Ricciuto for the 2003 Brownlow Medal...read more |
| #21 - Nick Davis’ four last quarter goals, 2005 |
 |
| “It was a very special night. It was a scrappy night and we were trying our best, things weren’t going our way, but in the end I was able to kick four goals and we got over the line," Davis said about the semi-final...read more |
| #22 - Last quarter of preliminary final v St Kilda, 2005 |
 |
| Leo Barry found Schneider who had given his opponent Leigh Montagna the slip, and the man who had started the last quarter onslaught burst inside 50 to kick his third goal of the quarter and put an exclamation mark on an irresistible seven minutes of finals football where the Swans kicked seven goals straight to steamroll the Saints...read more |
| #23 - Leo Barry’s Grand Final mark, 2005 |
 |
| "Leo Barry, you star!," cried Channel Ten's Stephen Quartermain. The siren sounded as Barry went back to take his kick, and with that the Swans claimed their first premiership since 1933 by four points over the Eagles...read more |
| #24 - “Here it is!”, 2005 |
 |
| But the moment everyone associated with the Swans had been waiting for was the presentation of the premiership cup, handed over to captain Barry Hall and coach Paul Roos by Swans legend Paul Kelly...read more |
| #25 - 2006 qualifying final win, 2006 |
 |
| O’Loughlin pounced on the loose ball and ran in to kick the sealer with 26 minutes run in the final quarter. In continuing his run past the goals, the Swans’ number 19 got up close to a couple of members of the West Coast cheer squad and let them know what had just happened...read more |
| #26 - Grand Final v West Coast, 2006 |
 |
| “Who would have thought the sequel would be just as good as the original?” pondered Channel Ten’s Anthony Hudson seconds after the final siren, and while it might have been the case for the neutral observers, the loss was bitterly disappointing for the Swans...read more |
| #27 - 300 gamers: Michael O’Loughlin, 2009 and Adam Goodes, 2011 |
 |
| “To have two players who have played over 300 games for his football club and in the same era is quite remarkable. Also the closeness between us as brothers, cousins and team mates makes it just a special moment,” Goodes said...read more |
| #28 - Michael O’Loughlin, Leo Barry and Jared Crouch’s final game, 2009 |
 |
| It was a game that marked the end of an era for the Sydney Swans when 2005 premiership stars Michael O’Loughlin, Leo Barry and Jared Crouch played their last match for the club in round 22, 2009...read more |
| #29 - Brett Kirk and Paul Roos’ last SCG game, 2010 |
 |
| The game, played against the Western Bulldogs, was co-captain Brett Kirk and coach Paul Roos’ last home game at the Swans’ historic home ground, and the fans flocked to say goodbye to two of the club’s greatest leaders...read more |
| #30 - Historic and emotional win in Geelong, 2011 |
 |
| Travelling down to Geelong had been a fruitless exercise for the boys in red and white over the years, having not won a game at Kardinia Park since round 8, 1999...read more |
