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.

#23 - Leo Barry’s Grand Final mark, 2005

It was the day the club had waited 72 years for. The end of the longest premiership drought in AFL history occurred on Saturday, September 24, 2005, but not before an epic Grand Final that was the closest in nearly 40 years.

The Sydney Swans set up the heart-stopping victory over the West Coast Eagles with a brilliant and accurate first half that saw them take a 20-point lead to the main change. The Swans had controlled the entire first half, and had limited the Eagles to just 2.7 - the lowest club score in the first half of a Grand Final since 1969 - while adding 6.3 themselves with goals to Barry Hall, Adam Goodes, Adam Schneider, Tadhg Kennelly, Michael O’Loughlin and Darren Jolly.

West Coast were held goalless in the second quarter, and looked bereft of any clear avenues to goal with their leading goalkicker, Phil Matera, a late withdrawal before the match with a groin injury, and second leading goalkicker, Quinten Lynch, left as an emergency after being dropped for the previous week’s preliminary final.

Like the Eagles had done so often in the past, coach John Worsfold swung Adam Hunter into attack in the third quarter and the move sparked a comeback. Hunter kicked a goal in the third term and had a hand in another as West Coast clawed their way back into the contest with a three goal to nil quarter.

After leading for most of the match, the Swans found themselves behind in the early stages of the final term after the 2005 Brownlow medallist Ben Cousins intercepted a Luke Ablett pass across goal and converted from the top of the goalsquare.

Four minutes later, Hunter kicked his second goal of the game and the Eagles had opened up a 10-point lead and had seized all the momentum.

However Sydney’s skipper, Hall got the next goal of the game with a long bomb from just outside 50 metres after taking a strong lead-up mark to give his team hope of coming back.

With just under eight minutes to go in the game, and following a string of near misses for both sides, the Swans produced another amazing set play from a stoppage which was a near repeat of Nick Davis’ goal in the semi-final two weeks earlier.

Jason Ball won a ruck tap inside the forward 50, and Amon Buchanan ran onto the ball and snapped brilliantly to put the Swans back in front with what would turn out to be the match winning goal.

The final minutes of the game saw both teams attacking frantically and throwing themselves ferociously into contests. The Swans missed several chances to ice the game, but the behinds had kept the scoreboard ticking over and Sydney led by five points with just seconds remaining.

West Coast attacked again and Kennelly rushed through a behind for the opposition, before finding Leo Barry with a short pass from the resulting kick out. Barry kicked long down the line, but the ball was intercepted by Eagles’ ruckman Dean Cox giving them one last shot.

Cox drove the ball back into the West Coast forward 50 where a huge pack of players formed. With 91,828 fans holding their collective breath, Barry flew across the face of the pack to take a spectacular and courageous mark that ensured the Swans would win the flag and write himself into Swans’, and AFL, folklore.

"Leo Barry, you star!," cried Channel Ten's Stephen Quartermain.

The siren sounded as Barry went back to take his kick, and with that the Swans claimed their first premiership since 1933 by four points over the Eagles.

“I think looking at (Leo’s mark) now and looking at the circumstances of the game, I think you’d just about have to call it the best mark of the season, given the stakes,” Swans coach Paul Roos said the day after the Grand Final.

“In the (coaches’) box, I must admit the crowd roared and there was such a huge pack, I actually thought that someone from the West Coast Eagles had marked it and then we didn’t hear the siren, but we heard the clock ticking down.

“The next thing I knew, I saw Leo had the ball and someone said that Leo had marked it, so it all happened so quickly.

“I’m very, very grateful to Leo that he actually took it.”

Barry’s iconic mark was included as one of six inaugural items on the Swans Heritage List at last year’s Swans Hall of Fame dinner.

On accepting the accolade, as well as his induction into the Swans Hall of Fame, Barry paid tribute to Roos for helping transform him into one of the dashing and bravest defenders in the competition.

“Roosy said to me if you think a mark is there, go for it. I have to give him a lot of credit for my career turning out the way it did,’’ Barry said.