While today’s announcement will see the Sydney Swans play for premiership points on international soil for the first time, the historic match against St Kilda on ANZAC Day 2013 won’t be the first time the club has played overseas.

Following the success of the 2005 premiership campaign, the Swans packed their bags in January 2006 to fly across the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles to face the Kangaroos as part of the ‘Australia Week’ promotion in the United States.

A group of 47 players made the trip to LA, but the game was used mainly to give many of the Swans’ youngsters and rookies a taste of pre-season action.

"The whole list are coming over, and while we will have 27 play, of those only six or eight will be guys who played in the premiership-winning team," Swans coach Paul Roos said in Los Angeles in the lead-up to the game.

"The game fits in with our pre-season philosophy of focusing on the young kids. It will be a good opportunity for the rookies to show what they have got, and I'm looking forward to seeing how all the young kids go under pressure of a game situation."

The game featured 2005 premiership players Jude Bolton and Lewis Roberts-Thomson, and also saw the club debut of the then new club recruit Ted Richards - who was one of the Swans’ best players in the game.

However, the Kangaroos proved too strong for the reigning premiers as they cruised to a 48-point win 13.8 (86) to the Swans 6.2 (38) in the match played at the famous University of California (UCLA) campus.

Rookie Paul Currie led the way for the Swans on the scoreboard with two of the side’s six goals, while youngsters Matthew Laidlaw and Kristin Thorton were among the better young performers in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,200 people.

Despite the final score, Roos said his team got the most out of their 10-day trip, which also included a stop in Hawaii, and a pre-game show from the late Steve Irwin.

"One of the main things going over there was that the facilities were going to be right for us to train, and that was the most important thing. We made it clear to the players that they were going to have some spare time, but the main purpose of going was to experience UCLA, train over there and get to know each other,” Roos said following the trip.

"If we thought we weren't going to be able to do our main training and were going to compromise 2006, we wouldn't have gone, but it was a great life experience for the players and we didn't miss a beat in terms of our training.

“The young guys were able to get out and mix with the older fellas, and that's one thing they wouldn't have got here. The rookies got to hang out with Barry Hall and Adam Goodes and Kirky [Brett Kirk] and Leo Barry, and I think that's invaluable.

"You spend a lot of time at the club but often you're in your own little groups, but we paired them up in rooms where the older guys mentored the younger guys, and got to know each other in an informal situation. And while that doesn't immediately spring to mind in terms of helping your footy, I think it will in the long run, so it was probably 10 out of 10 in terms of what we were able to get out of it."

Another trip to the AFL Grand Final just nine months later would prove the journey to be a success.

The 2006 venture to Los Angeles was the second time the Swans had played an exhibition match overseas, after the side faced Melbourne in Wellington, New Zealand in an Ansett Cup in March 1998.

The Demons were too good for the Swans as they ran out 12-point winners at the Basin Reserve.

The Swans at UCLA in 2006