- Click here to listen to The Bloods - Leaving South Melbourne, Episode 1 on Apple Podcasts
- Click here to listen to The Bloods - Leaving South Melbourne, Episode 1 on Spotify
The Sydney Swans 2005 premiership triumph is one of the most famous moments in the club’s history.
The win famously broke a 72-year premiership drought and reignited the story of the Bloods.
According to premiership coach Paul Roos, the foundations of that breakthrough Grand Final win in 2005, were laid some two years earlier, in a qualifying final at Adelaide’s Football Park against Port Adelaide.
Port Adelaide had been the dominant team of the season in 2003, finishing on top of the ladder and some three games clear of their nearest rival.
The challenge of facing the Power in a final, on their home turf, was the hardest in football. But a rising Swans team was up to the task.
After a tight first term, the Swans surged out to commanding 40-point lead at the main break.
Despite a late Power surge, the Swans would hang on to a memorable 12-point victory.
The win was headlined for the Swans by a bag of six goals from spearhead Barry Hall and a mighty 24 disposal performance from Brett Kirk.
“There’s defining moments in everything you do, and I think that was a defining moment in that Bloods culture. The ability to play your role and have everyone understand their role,” Roos explains in episode 6 of The Bloods, presented by QBE.
“There was some defining moments in that particular game, and defining performances. And there is no doubt that those moments lead to your premiership,” he says.
It would take the might of the all-conquering Brisbane Lions to end the Swans season two weeks later. But the team’s path to ultimate glory had been set.
Episode 6 of The Bloods, presented by QBE, charts the Swans rise to the 2005 premiership, including the very story of the Bloods culture.
Swans’ greats including Leo Barry, Brett Kirk and Nick Davis all recount some of the now legendary moments forged leading up to the 2005 triumph.
The hour-long finale episode of The Bloods, is now available for download.
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The Bloods - Leaving South Melbourne, Episode One
'The Bloods', presented by QBE, is now available via Apple and Spotify. Tune into this snippet from Episode 1 which begins in the turbulent times of the early 1980s, with South Melbourne facing severe financial distress and relocation to Sydney.
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