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.

#4 - Warwick Capper kicks 100 goals in a season, 1987

During the Sydney Swan glamour period of the mid-to-late eighties, there was one man who stood above all others - often literally - in his ability to bring people through the gates of the SCG.

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 and up there with the biggest names in the game at the time.

“Unless you were in Sydney at the time, it’s hard to believe how big a personality he was, which in turn significantly lifted the profile of the Club - and the game as a whole,” 1988 Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy recalls.

“And it helped that he could play a bit as well.”

Capper came to the Swans from Victorian club Oakleigh, and after playing one game in 1983, he went on to become the club’s leading goalkicker in 1984 (39 goals), 1985 (45), and 1986 (92), and was runner-up to Collingwood’s Brian Taylor in the ’86 Coleman Medal.

With the Swans remarkable on-ball department feeding the forward line, Capper was the main beneficiary on the scoreboard and improved his game even further in 1987.

The 23-year old began the season with nine goals in the Swans 91-point win over Collingwood at Victoria Park - where he received three Brownlow votes as well - and consistently contributed goals for the remainder of the season. Bags of seven followed in round five against Richmond and round eight against Fitzroy, and he kicked 16 goals in the Swans historic three-game run between rounds 16 and 18.

At the end of the home-and-away season Capper had 99 goals to his name, and notched up his ton in the 99-point qualifying final loss to Hawthorn at Waverley Park.

Capper finished with four goals for the match to take his season tally to 103, in the process becoming only the second player in the club’s history, after the legendary Bob Pratt, to kick more than 100 goals in a season. He also took one of the game’s most iconic marks during the match, when he propelled his body horizontally over Hawks full-back Chris Langford’s shoulders to haul in a spectacular grab.

Unfortunately for Capper - and all Swans supporters - an injury ruled him out of the semi-final against Melbourne the following week. The Swans lost to the Demons by 76 points and fell out of the 1987 finals series.

The qualifying final would prove to be Capper’s last game for the Swans before he was cleared to the Brisbane Bears ahead of the start of the 1988 season. At the Bears, Capper couldn’t reproduce the form he had shown in the previous four years in the red and white, kicking 71 goals in 34 games during his time at Carrara.

Capper returned to the Swans for the 1991 season, playing 13 games for 38 goals to take his career tally with the club to 317 goals from 90 games.

As one of the Swans most recognisable figures in the early days in Sydney, the impact Capper had during the peak of his time at the Swans was incredible. Last year Capper was inducted into the Swans Hall of Fame, lapping up the attention at the event like only he can.