This was not just any comeback victory. This match personified the Bloods that we had become. Nick Davis kicked the winner with seconds remaining, but it would be the foundations laid almost three years earlier that ensured success.

Premiership midfielder Nic Fosdike recalls the moment he identifies as the beginning of a new life approach. "I remember it happening, and it was real. There was one moment when Stuey Maxfield took us out of the gym and up on to Driver Avenue to do knuckle push-ups on the concrete." He continues, "Everyone was thinking, why are we doing this? But, everyone did it, and all of a sudden, everything changes. Roosy coming on board was massive, obviously, but this was after that. The Bloods thing was really when the whole thing launched."

It was the senior members of the squad who drove the change deemed necessary. "The leaders just decided that things were going to change. We were going to start doing everything super disciplined. Every time you missed something, everyone did a 6 am session. Every time someone stuffed something up, we did a 6 am session. Everyone was going to be accountable for everything. Video sessions ramped up; suddenly, there were more individual meetings about preparation and mental application and effort. It literally changed from that point. Up until then, it wasn't the culture that it is and has been for so long," Fosdike recalls.

The season had started shakily, but as premiership forward Adam Schneider recalls, momentum snowballed. "We knew we're thereabouts, but we didn't start too well in '05. From midway through the year, I remember going into games feeling extremely confident." He adds, "We knew we had an excellent system going, we knew we're playing disciplined footy with our one-on-one brand, and we made it hard for other teams to score. I do recall being really confident going into that finals series. Working with the forwards, especially, we were very thorough with everything we did. We all had to play our role, that was the most important thing, and being in that mindset worked for us."

However, the best-laid plans can often go awry. The events of Schneider's semi-final day may well have been ominous. "I remember the day quite well. It was my fiftieth game, and I didn't start the day well. I went to get some lunch, and I got a parking ticket that cost me $300." He continues, "I got a flat tire on the way to the game, then I remember getting to the game, and the ground was wet. We couldn't work out why because it was a beautiful night, and it looked like the sprinklers had been on. Everyone was thinking no, what's going on here?"

Fosdike vividly recalls the players' confusion with the SCG scenes they arrived to see. "The reason I remember this so clearly is that Willo (Paul Williams) and I were driving to the game together as we often would for home games. We were driving along, and it was quite breezy, and we were talking about how we should comfortably roll these guys, not in an arrogant way; we were just really confident. We were talking about how it was not going to be dewy because it was windy. Then, there was drama."

That drama quickly morphed into frustration. "I'll never forget we all rocked up, and we were looking at the ground, and we were all thinking what's going on? There had been no rain, and it had been windy and sunny all day, and somebody saturated the ground. Everyone started talking and becoming frustrated, just wondering what the hell had happened." Fosdike continues, "The reason we were all frustrated was that we didn't expect that, and it probably caught us off-guard a little bit. There were all sorts of conspiracy theories floating around, but the conditions certainly weren't to our advantage. We had good tall forwards, and the slippery conditions turned it into a scrappy, low-scoring game."

The conditions contributed heavily to the style of match that would eventuate. For Schneider, enduring memories focus on the combative nature of the game. "That was one of the toughest games to be a part of because it was just so brutal. You couldn't make a mistake; it was crash and bash. But, I think the belief that we had built up over the previous thirteen or fourteen weeks meant that we knew we were never out of the game. We could definitely come back and win that game."

Like Schneider's pre-match off-field, things weren't going to plan on-field. "We never really panicked. It was just more that we knew we could come back. Because the difference was only three goals at three-quarter time, we knew it wasn't insurmountable; it was just a tough night to score. We never really reached the point where we were staring down the barrel because we still had thirty minutes to kick four goals. It wasn't like we didn't have the firepower to do it, but it was all just a blur," Fosdike recollects.

"We'd played in a lot of tight games and finals, so we were pretty seasoned by that point. We'd done well against good sides, so we were looking at each other thinking we've got to get a wriggle on here; it's not going the way we thought."

As the match wore on, the struggle to score began to build. Nick Davis' final quarter is now folklore, but Fosdike credits the team-first ethos as critical to eking out the win. "We knew that we had twenty-two blokes who were going to stick to the structure no matter what." He continues, "We didn't care who kicked the goals or who got the touches, there were no pats-on the-back for individuals during a game. Davo's last quarter was all within the structure. It wasn't him just chasing a kick; it was him doing what he was supposed to be doing."

The system was such that discipline created the opportunity, and it was Davis who seized the moment in an incredible performance. "It's not until after the siren goes and that first five minutes after the game is when you're really taking in what just happened. But in the end, it was one of the greatest individual quarters of football that's ever been. Without Davo in this game, we wouldn't have won the premiership. Realistically, he probably had more influence on us winning the Grand Final than any other player in the club, because we wouldn't have even got there," Fosdike recalls.

"That last goal is probably one of the most defining, pivotal moments in the history of the footy club. The next day at Coogee Beach, I said to Davo, that because of you, we're still going, we're still in it."

As a forward-line teammate of Davis, Schneider understands both the brilliance and the preparation that went into creating one of the club's most iconic moments. "Nick Davis has told us all many times how good he played that night and got us over the time," he jokes. "He was unbelievable. I'm still waiting for credit for his last goal, though. I blocked for him to get him free, and that still hasn't come out. That was unbelievable, and it is right up there for the top three loudest times I've ever heard the SCG. The noise was phenomenal and to try and think straight in that last two minutes was tough."

"I had no idea how long was left. It was a set play that we'd worked on for the previous two years. We had a plan that would involve either Amon Buchanan, myself, or Nick, and usually, I'd wrap around on my left foot, and Nick would go the other side on his right. But, Davo was in some pretty fair form that night, so I said, 'you can have this mate.' Jason Ball hit an unbelievable tap, but that was no fluke. That was precisely how we'd practiced at training. We were so disciplined to play as a team and play our role. Although it did take some individual brilliance to kick it out of mid-air with his left foot!" Schneider recalls fondly. 

These days, it's not often that Fosdike reflects on his career. However, he does sense a sliding doors moment occurring that night. "Who knows what could've happened. Imagine if we bombed out, people could get traded, coaches' careers might change, that thirty minutes changed the entire footy club. It put us on the path to success, and if we'd had lost it, it's a missed opportunity, and we might not have won any Grand Finals."

"These were key moments in establishing the Bloods culture." Fosdike continues, "Without those key little moments, maybe the club doesn't get to where it is now. It became a situation where we monitored everything we were required to do to become a better team, and you were held accountable for it. Then, in a game, if you don't chase, you couldn't hide anymore."

"We all thought that if people take shortcuts, then you get found out, and no one wanted to be that guy that let the team down. It sounds pretty basic, but to actually do it every time was tough. That culture changes your life."

While Schneider's experience proved strong enough to be a vital component of a premiership-winning side a few weeks later, he laments his difficulty in grasping the enormity of his early successes. "I vaguely remember we spoke about just keeping a lid on it. We were like that through that whole finals series. Yes, let's be excited and enjoy the moment, but we have to worry about the next challenge. The message was to move on. It's a pity I was just young and dumb at the time and thought that this was normal."

The team sewed the first threads of the fabric of the Bloods culture in 2003. It all came to fruition in 2005. For Fosdike and his former teammates, its values remain. "I do not doubt that people from that team look back and think about how lucky we were. We reached a level of trust and accountability where you can't bullshit yourself now." He continues, "You know what should and shouldn't happen, and when people aren't watching, you still feel guilty if you didn't do what was right. You carry that through into your life. We were just so lucky to be a part of that system and come out better people than when we went in. I know I did. We based the whole system on honesty and accountability. The whole ethos was if you're going to say you'll do something, then do it. Otherwise, go somewhere else."

This team's hallmarks and the culture they created live on among the Swans of today, and Fosdike is adamant that at its core, it is a culture that you can depend on long after football fades away. "You pretty much live your life by a code of accountability. Other clubs weren't doing it. We knew they weren't doing what we were doing. Some clubs at the time weren't even close to being as committed and disciplined as we were. There were no exceptions anymore. It was all about 'this is what we do, this is how we do it, the whole team does it, and if you don't, then the whole team suffers. It taught us all to do what you need to do; get it done. We knew that we were going to make it really hard for anyone."

"We were super lucky."