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.

#16 - Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley’s final game, 2002

The 2002 season started like any other for the Swans, but events throughout the year would make it one of the most significant in the club’s history.

Rodney Eade started the season as the Swans coach for his seventh season at the helm, with Paul Kelly celebrating his tenth year as captain of the club. The Swans had traded to bring in power forward Barry Hall from St Kilda during the off-season, with Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Adam Schneider also arriving at the club. Tony Lockett briefly made a comeback to the side, returning three goals from three games.

The Swans struggled in the early stages of the season, winning just three of the first 11 games, including a draw with St Kilda in round 5. After leading at every change in the round 12 clash against Geelong at the SCG, the Swans went down to the Cats by two points. Following the match, the Swans Board indicated that Eade would not be offered a new contract beyond the season, and Eade subsequently resigned as coach.

Former champion player and assistant coach Paul Roos was appointed as caretaker coach of the Swans, with his first game in charge resulting in a 77-point demolition of Fremantle at the SCG in round 13. The win over the Dockers was followed by three successive losses, before the Swans went on to win four of the next five games leading into the final round match against Richmond at Stadium Australia.

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. The decorated pair, accompanied by their families, led the Swans onto the ground and through the banner for the last appearance of their careers.

After a tight start to the game, the Swans ran over the top of the Tigers in the second half to register a 40-point win, with emotional scenes immediately following the final siren.

With many fans bring banners to the game in support of Roos getting the coach’s job on a permanent basis, Swans players mobbed Roos following the victory in a show of support for their caretaker coach who had won six of the ten games he was in charge of.

The players then chaired Dunkley and Kelly off the ground as a sign of respect for the retiring duo and their contributions to the club.

“My head was spinning from the time the siren went until I went down to the dressing room,” Kelly recalled about his last match in his autobiography SwanSong.

“I was battling to keep my emotions in check; I just wanted to enjoy it. To go out like that - at home - was ideal.

“We had won the game and everyone was feeling good. We’d had a great finish for the season and the club was starting to head in the right direction.”

Kelly picked up 16 possessions in his 234th and final game in the red and white, retiring as one of the league’s greats with four Club Champion awards, three All-Australian nods, and the 1995 Brownlow Medal.

The champion from Wagga Wagga was named vice-captain in the Swans’ Team of the Century in 2003, inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2007, and inducted as a Bloods Legend in the inaugural intake of the Swans Hall of Fame in 2009.

Dunkley was inducted into the Swans Hall of Fame last year.

“Throughout my career I played on some outstanding players but there was no more consistently harder opponent than Dunkley,” recalled North Melbourne centre half-forward and seven-time All-Australian, Wayne Carey.