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.
#2 - Midfield Superstars, 1986
With the Swans now fully relocated to Sydney, and the club’s license purchased by Dr Geoffrey Edelsten in the middle of 1985, a large recruitment drive ensued in between the ‘85 and ‘86 seasons.
Four-time Richmond premiership coach, Tom Hafey, was appointed as the club’s new coach and given he had come directly from a three-year stint at the helm of Geelong, he was successful in luring some of their promising players north to Sydney.
One of the trio who made the move from Kardinia Park was a 22-year old with 34 VFL games under his belt, in Greg Williams.
That off-season also saw the Swans secure the services of Melbourne midfielder Gerard Healy. Healy came to the club as a prolific ball winner in his 130 games with Melbourne and he had won the Demons best and fairest in 1984.
The new Swans duo, combined with the up-and-coming Barry Mitchell, saw the Swans midfield become one of the most formidable on-ball divisions in the competition.
The results were instantaneous for the club as they won the opening six games of the 1986 season en route to the Swans first finals appearance in nine years.
Although the Swans were bundled out of the finals in straight sets in 1986 - and again in 1987 - the year was a success, and capped off by Williams tying with Hawthorn’s Robert DiPierdomenico for the Brownlow Medal. Williams claimed the award with 17 votes in his first season with the club.
While Williams received the Brownlow Medal in 1986, it was Healy who claimed the club best and fairest award - a feat he would repeat again in 1987 and 1988.
In the latter year of his best and fairest hat-trick, Healy also claimed the Players Association MVP award and a Brownlow Medal for himself, despite playing the back end of the season with a torn stomach tendon. Healy won the Brownlow with 20 votes, four ahead of Essendon’s Simon Madden and Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall.
The dynamic midfield duo played a combined 188 games for the Swans during the club’s halcyon days of the mid-to-late eighties, before a wrist injury in 1990 cut short Healy’s career. Williams played 15 games for the Swans in 1991 before leaving Sydney for Carlton in a complicated clearance.
The influence the celebrated pair had on the football club - including the two Brownlow Medals and seven All Australian selections - was long lasting. In 2003 they were named on the ground in the Swans Team of the Century, and in 2009 they were both inducted into the Swans Hall of Fame in the first intake.
Greg Williams fires off a handpass surrounded by Fitzroy players in 1986
