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.

#6 - Ron Barassi appointed senior coach, 1993

Following Colin Kinnear’s three-season stint as head coach of the Sydney Swans from 1989 to 1991, the club appointed former Hawthorn half-forward Gary Buckenara to the role ahead of the 1992 season.

The Swans lost their final 15 matches of the 1992 season under Buckenara and the news didn’t get much better over the off-season with the club fighting for its survival, requiring a complete restructure and the help of the AFL to stay afloat.

Three heavy defeats to start the 1993 season extended the club’s losing streak to 18 and resulted in Buckenara being replaced by former Swans centreman Brett Scott as caretaker coach.

Scott oversaw two more heavy defeats to Fitzroy and North Melbourne before the AFL Commission, led by Ross Oakley, made an announcement that would have enormously positive ramifications on the future of the football club.

On May 4 1993, the AFL resolved that the Swans would revert to a traditional member-based system rather than continuing with private ownership, AFL Executive Commissioner Alan Schwab would be appointed Executive Chairman of the club, and finally, that former Carlton and North Melbourne premiership coach, Ron Barassi, would be appointed coach of the Swans until the end of 1995.

Barassi didn’t shy away from the magnitude of his task upon arriving at the Swans, and came with a simple message on how he would try and lift the club out of the doldrums.

“To play with spirit and be competitive via the heart,” Barassi told the media.

“You can worry about methods and tactics, they’re head things, which you’ve got to have as well. But to gain respect from your opponents you need to give a spirited performance - and that’s my task.”

The spirit was on show in Barassi’s first week as coach, when the Swans put in their best showing of the early season - going down to Carlton by 44 points - before another big defeat to the Brisbane Bears followed the week after.

Going into round 13 1993, the Swans had lost 26 consecutive matches before Barassi guided the side, with the help of ten goals from Richard Osborne, to their first win in 415 days.

It would prove to be the Swans only win in 1993 as they finished as wooden spooners, a feat that would occur again in 1994 for a third straight season, despite improving to three wins and being competitive in the bulk of their games.

Clever drafting and recruiting ahead of the 1995 season saw the Swans able to land talented players such as Shannon Grant and Anthony Rocca, influential players of the future in Matthew Nicks, Michael O’Loughlin and Leo Barry, and two key established stars in Paul Roos and Tony Lockett.

Results in 1995 weren’t immediate, but the side was definitely improving under the tutelage of Barassi and the inspirational on-field leadership of captain Paul Kelly.

The Swans posted outstanding wins over eventual premiers Carlton - one of only two games the Blues would lose all season - and finalists North Melbourne during the season, while Lockett kicked a ton of goals in his debut season at the Swans.

Three days before the Swans round 21 clash against Fremantle, Barassi announced that he would retire as coach of the club at the end of the season after 59 games in charge.

“What Ron inherited was a bankrupt football club that was bankrupt in almost every sense of the word. There are few people in Australia who could have done what he has done. This place was on its knees. It was basically gone for all money and we bought a bit of time in the second half of 1993 on the back of Ron’s reputation,” Swans Chairman Richard Colless said. 

Barassi’s final game as coach of the Swans resulted in a 23-point victory over Collingwood at the SCG, with Tony Lockett leading the way with seven goals.

The Swans won eight games in Barassi’s final season at the helm to finish 12th on the AFL ladder, but more importantly the foundations were in place on and off the field for the club to prosper in the future.