When John Longmire took the reins from Paul Roos, he had already been at the club for eight years as a highly-regarded assistant coach. In his first season as senior coach in 2011, the team qualified for the finals, having been the only team to defeat preliminary finalist, West Coast at Subiaco, and recording a stirring win in Geelong in the penultimate round against the eventual premiers. They won an elimination final that year, with a transition team, meaning that signs were indeed promising.

325-game dual-premiership winning champion, Jude Bolton, recalls the sense of renewal among the group as they headed into what would prove to be a celebrated campaign in 2012. "It was a vastly different team to 2005, and I'm still immensely proud that we had a few of us from the previous era under Roosy, and then seven years later, we got the opportunity again." He continues, "We did have that experience, but then we were forging ahead with a new bunch of guys. We had a very different lineup; we had the speed of Lewis Jetta sprinting up and down the ground, we had Lukey Parker just starting his career who came on in this game as a sub and kicked a goal. It was a win we look back on really fondly."

The season began beautifully with the first loss coming against the Crows in Round 6. That loss, followed by tight late-season losses to fellow contenders Collingwood & Hawthorn, would only fuel the fire. "We had a couple of close losses leading in, but you also learn from those as well." Bolton recalls, "Those things hold you in good stead for finals, and you know you're not going to let that happen again. Those sorts of things stick with you and are etched in your memory when you have to sit down and review those losses on Monday."

Confidence was high among the group as the year progressed, and Bolton remembers feeling energised by the possibility of further success. "During the year, we started to get a sense of 'we're right in the mix here,' and it's a good feeling when you start to get that energy, and you're winning games." He adds, "Sometimes you're winning comfortably, and sometimes you're grinding it out but still finding a way, and there's an air of confidence that comes with a group when you can feel something building. Then you get to a finals series, and I love that it is effectively a whole new season, and you start again. You could have a good month of footy and be premiership players. From that aspect, it just takes a different level of focus and concentration and also resilience. It doesn't go to plan all the time."

The first sign of that came as our Swans touched down at the Adelaide Airport. While most visitors to the city of churches receive renowned local hospitality and perhaps even a bottle of the Barossa's finest, they greeted our Swans with pure old-fashioned, unsolicited hostility. The home towners were out in force and welcomed our Swans with multiple renditions of the Crows' chorale, ladened with intermittent profanities and advice.

"It was significant. To win that game and to go into a Prelim at home was crucial, but also how we won was important." Bolton recalls, "It was a really hostile crowd that started even when we landed at the airport. I can still remember the Adelaide cheer squad or a section of supporters turned up to greet us and started singing the Crows song. So, you get that feeling that ok, 'this is on' immediately after you get off the plane. We had an ability to do well over there, playing well in previous years with a big finals win against Port Adelaide and were prepared."

As the team bunkered down in enemy territory, preparations included some vital experienced players' stirring recollections. Ruck man, Mike Pyke, recalls the impact of the pre-match address. "This game was huge. We had a great pump-up the night before with John (Longmire) where he took us through a previous finals win in Adelaide in 2003, and we relived that with a lot of the senior guys like Goodesy, Bolts, and Ryan O'Keefe talking us through that game where there was so much going against us. We had our backs against the wall and ended up getting a famous win. That gave us belief that we could go out and do it."

Bolton recalls that moment well. "Horse quite often grabbed a group of us to talk about our previous experiences, and during the week, we spoke about some important finals games like the Port Adelaide one in '03." He continues, "Finals are all about digging in when things might not be going your way but finding a way, and I certainly drew upon that game when we went over there. After being tipped to finish on the bottom of the ladder and winning our way into a Prelim that year, it was pretty special and gave us something to draw upon certainly."

Our Bloods bolted out of the boxes in an exhilarating start to the match, leaving the 45,000 rabid locals silent and mightily unsure. "It's an important thing to try and silence the crowd early. We always had a pretty good approach in that sense of trying to get the work done early to at least not feel like you're up against it with the crowd, and we managed to do that several times. To be able to take that element out of it, particularly for the young guys, to back their kicks and take risks, was important," states Bolton.

"Goodesy started us off extremely well, and when you have someone of that ilk in such a rich vein of form, it drags everyone along. As we know with Goodesy, he's impactful, and the energy he brings as he celebrates and wants to high-five back to the centre-square. It's pretty imposing for an opposition lineup when you've got someone like him up and about like that," Bolton recalls. And by halftime, Goodes had kicked three goals, and we were leading by twenty-five points.

The engine room was also firing on all cylinders as the on-ball brigade established an early influence. "We had some strong dominance through the middle too. I remember Ryan O'Keefe (37 possessions) being prolific through there and Joey Kennedy (35). The ability to win the footy in there and to have a dominant forward was pretty telling on the day," Bolton recollects.

As the match wore on, our ascendancy remained. However, it wasn't only the big names that were performing. Mitch Morton played in just his third match for the club, and his first-ever final. Bolton applauds his influence on such a big occasion. "The thing about those big finals is it also comes down to cameos as well. Someone's always going to get an opportunity at important stages to stand up. I remember being super impressed with the likes of Mitch Morton, who was that type of fringe player who probably wasn't going to play a prominent role, but he stamped himself on the game, putting pressure on and kicking a couple of goals. So, having him stand up like that was important."

However, with the team surging towards a decisive victory, Ben McGlynn's hamstring injury placed him in a precarious position. He would not recover in time to play in the premiership that followed, and to this day, Bolton and his teammates lament his misfortune.

"With Benny McGlynn going down in that game, that was one of the dark sides of footy. We saw the highs and lows of footy during those two hours because he had been so pivotal in getting us to the finals. He was so excited about performing on the big stage, and then to have that injury happen, we had that sense that it was all starting to slip away from his grasp. So that was shattering, while we're also trying to celebrate a big win as well."

Bolton adds, "It does have a big impact on the group. When you look back, it's really frustrating because it takes a whole list to get you to a Grand Final and win them. There are always people who have bigger roles and having a great impact. Ben was having an enormous impact, so many times, he dragged us over the line by kicking a clutch goal or his gut running, putting pressure on defenders; he was a real barometer for us. For him to miss out on that premiership in 2012 cuts you pretty deep."

Our Swans displayed the resilience that this club is famed for and saluted with a 29-point win that set the scene for a scintillating finals series that would result in winning the ultimate prize. The post-match scenes were a mix of jubilation and focus, as Bolton recalls. "We always found the balance after winning big games quite well. We enjoyed each other's company, and you've got to savour those moments. There's no point winning those games and not being able to enjoy them and have a couple of beers together."

"But knowing full well that the job's not done and you've got that level of focus to say, have a little mental break for a day or two. Then you attack training. There's no better feeling than running out and training during September. The sun's out, and you're in the thick of a finals series, you get to sit back and watch the games on that week off and see who you're playing, it's a pretty good position to be in."

The team of that era was well accustomed to finals football's nuances and were extremely well-led through the aftermath of such a historic win.

"We had some great people around us who brought that experience like Andrew Ireland, who would map out those weeks, and he knew how it would unfold for us. That gives you a level of confidence, and we'd won in 2005, so some of the senior players were able to impart that experience as well. You draw on those people who've been there before, and I think back to Micky O'Loughlin in '05 saying that he played in a Grand Final as a 19-year-old kid and just thinking it would happen each year. It was nearly ten years later before he got an opportunity, so you've just got to make every post a winner," Bolton states.

And that's precisely what they did.