SWANS BREAK THE FAMOUS 72 YEAR DROUGHT!
In 2005 the Sydney swans won their first premiership in 72 years after a thrilling encounter with the west coast eagles. In this match was one of the most memorable marks ever in finals history. Who could forget them mark when Leo Barry came out of nowhere to seal the game for the Sydney Swans!
The whole finals series was a rollercoaster ride for the bloods. They lost their first game against west coast eagles by 3 points. Giving the west coast eagles the short cut towards the premiership. That meant that the Sydney swans would have to take the hard way to get the grand finale. West Coast lead by Daniel Kerr, Chris Judd and Ben Cousin won in a hard fought game which it was even the whole match. Their stats were identical thought-out the game but the eagles put on a late surge and just got over the line. Sydney were disappointed but still had a chance. But yet did they know that they would face Geelong and it would be one of the best games in Sydney swans finals history.
In the second semi-final against Geelong Nick Davis starred kicking 4 goals and lifting the swans in the fourth quarter. By three quarter time the swans were down by seventeen points and they would need a mighty fight back to win. Thirty minutes into the fourth quarter the ball was in the swans forward pocket. They were down by three and if Geelong got the ball out it was most likely all over. Swans ruckman Darren Jolly knocked it down into space and miraculously the star of the game Nick Davis picked it up from ground level and snapped one of the most important goals ever for the Sydney swans. This goal lead the Swans towards first premiership in seventy-two years.
After that miraculous win the swans would face St. Kilda, who beat Adelaide in the qualifying by 8 points which would lead them straight to the preliminary. In this game the bloods were on top early. But in the 3rd quarter St. Kilda came back with nick dal Santo having a big impact. At the start of the 4th quarter swans were down one goal. But as usual they never gave up and fought back in the last quarter and scored seven goals to St. Kilda’s two points. Swans would now play west coast in the grand final.
This game would go down in the history book for the Sydney swans. They would never play a game as important as this. Swans started magnificently and by half time they were leading thirty nine to west coast’s twenty one. But when you play a great team quality players they will fight back and by three quarter time the west coast had crawled their way back and swans were only up by two points. The stage was set for a memorable last quarter that all swan supporters would remember. It was tight throughout the quarter but with twenty seconds Dean Cox took the mark seventy meters out. He crashed it in. One last roll of the dice for the eagles. But no one could stop Leo Barry from out of know where to seal the game for the swans. This day was a day that all swans fans remember forever.
