Former Sydney Swans captain Paul Kelly has underscored the Club’s impact on the growth of Australian rules football in NSW and the ACT.

The 1995 Brownlow medallist was on deck at the SCG as hundreds of young boys and girls across the region competed in the Paul Kelly Cup State Finals on Monday.

The Paul Kelly Cup is the biggest primary school knock-out competition in Australia, with more than 15,000 young footballers participating throughout the year.

It culminated in 20 schools squaring off at Monday’s State Finals, with Knox Grammar winning the boys’ competition and Lindsay Park Public School taking out the girls’.

The Swans have played finals football since 2009 and won two premierships (2005, 2012) since relocating from South Melbourne to Sydney in 1982.

The Club has missed the finals just three times since 2000 and competed in five grand finals in that period.

Kelly said the Swans’ success had played a huge role in the game’s rapid surge across NSW and the ACT. 

“The Swans have been able to stay competitive over a long period of time,” Kelly told SwansTV.

“In a system with a design where you’re not meant to be playing in the finals every year, we’ve been fiercely competitive.

“It’s all helping the growth. The supporters and members and new people to the code know what they’re going to get when the Swans are playing. They’re a team that’s going to give 100 per cent. The Swans have been able to grow the game and take it to people that never knew much about it.”

Monday marked the 21^st edition of the Cup.