In the lead-up to the Swans round 8 home match against Melbourne, which will celebrate the Club’s 30 years in Sydney, sydneyswans.com.au is collating the 30 Defining Moments of the Swans in Sydney in chronological order.

The 30 Defining Moments have been 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.

#13 - Grand Final against North Melbourne, 1996

Following the euphoria of the preliminary final victory over Essendon, the Swans were dealt a significant blow in the lead up to the 1996 Grand Final against North Melbourne when full-back Andrew Dunkley was cited for allegedly striking James Hird.

After the club took legal action, the Supreme Court of Victoria finally ruled on the Thursday leading into the game that Dunkley was free to take his place in the side. The ruling was a relief, but not the ideal preparation for player or club.

Aside from the Dunkley distraction, the Swans soaked up the fanfare that came with the club’s first Grand Final appearance since 1945. Tony Lockett, Paul Kelly and Paul Roos attended the Brownlow Medal in Melbourne on the Monday night, and then the entire team were paraded through the streets of Melbourne in the annual Grand Final Parade on the Friday.

“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.

“I suppose the thing that surprised me the most was the amount of support we had down (in Melbourne). We had a fair amount of support through the year from the South Melbourne people from years ago who perhaps didn't agree with us moving and hadn't had much to do with us, but they started to flock back and have been with us ever since,” he said.

The Swans went in to the Grand Final as underdogs against a North Melbourne side that had being building towards a premiership tilt following consecutive preliminary final appearances in 1994 and 1995.

Sydney started the match the better of the two sides, kicking the last three goals of the opening quarter to take an 18-point lead to the first change. A Jason Mooney goal and Kelly point at the start of the second term extended the Swans lead beyond four goals before North Melbourne grafted their way back into the contest.

Following a boundary throw-in on the Members’ wing halfway through the second quarter, Kelly found himself with the ball in open space, but his kick inside the forward 50 fell agonisingly short of the leading Tony Lockett. North Melbourne’s Mick Martyn gathered the loose ball and drove the Kangaroos forward, with Glenn Freeborn eventually snapping a goal from that foray and cutting the Swans lead to three goals.

Freeborn went on to add two more goals for the quarter, with Darren Crocker and Brett Allison each kicking one, as North wrestled back the ascendancy and went to the half-time break in front by two points.

After kicking five of the last six goals in the first half, the Kangaroos opened the second half in a similar vein with eight of the opening nine goals to steamroll the Swans and seal victory. North Melbourne eventually went on to win the premiership - a gold premiership cup to commemorate the AFL’s centenary year - by 43 points.

North Melbourne defender Glenn Archer was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground, while Tony Lockett contributed six goals for the Swans, and was named alongside Kelly, Paul Roos, Daryn Cresswell, Kevin Dyson and Michael O’Loughlin as the best players in the red and white.

“It was such a huge day, just being there and being able to run out in front of so many people. It was just something you never forget,” Kelly said.

“Unfortunately the game didn't end up the way we wanted, but it's funny, it was the best day of my footy life and then close to the worst.”

The defeat was bitterly disappointing for the Swans, but it was a tremendous effort given the run of three successive wooden spoons and near extinction the fans had endured just years earlier.