The Sydney Swans will once again compete in the penultimate round of the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership season with a third trip to the grand final in the last five years on the line at the SCG on Friday night.
The red and white will play in-front of a sold-out SCG, hosting minor premiers Fremantle who travel east for a first v second placed preliminary final showdown.
Since moving from South Melbourne to Sydney in 1982, the Swans have featured in ten preliminary finals, including nine this century, which is the third highest in the AFL and sits only behind Geelong (15) and Collingwood (12).
The Swans also hold an impressive record when they have featured in the Preliminary Final, recording 8 wins and losing only twice. Having never lost a Preliminary Final at the SCG, the red and white will be wanting to continue that trajectory; however will have to overcome the last team to beat the Swans in the final hurdle before the Grand Final.
Here are some highlight moments from the Swans' history in the preliminary finals since 1982.
The first in Sydney
14 years after moving to the Harbour City, the Swans returned to the Preliminary Final, but for the first time as the Sydney Swans, and it delivered arguably the Swans' greatest moment in the penultimate round. Hosting the sixth-placed Essendon, the second place Swans trailed late in the final term.
Trailing by six with less than two minutes left, the Swans tied the game thanks to Daryn Cresswell's third goal of the game.
With scores level, Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett would stand up tall for the Bloods and secure a mark on the edge of the 50 with 16 seconds left. As time expired, Plugger launched an effort goalbound from beyond the arch.
Needing only a single point, the ball would sail through for a behind and send the SCG into raptures. Having just secured the Swans' first grand final appearance in 51 years and the first in Sydney history, fans flooded onto the SCG in euphoria and pride, embracing the playing group and covering the green grass of the SCG in red and white.
One step closer to breaking the curse
The 2005 season will long be remembered for what happened at the MCG on the final Saturday in September. An important step was made a week earlier when the Swans faced off with St Kilda at the G.
After losing to West Coast in the first week of finals, the third-placed Swans had to travel to fourth-placed St Kilda and hope to prevail at the MCG if the red and white were to return to the grand final for the first time since Plugger’s heroics, 19 years earlier.
St Kilda would hold a 7-point lead heading into the final quarter in what was a tight, arm-wrestle contest up until that point.
The Swans, who were determined to end the longest premiership drought in VFL/AFL history, kicked seven unanswered goals to run away as 31-point victors and secure their spot in the 2005 Grand Final, where they would finish the job and return to Sydney as premiers.
History with the Dockers
This Friday's meeting with Fremantle will not be the first or even the second time these two teams have faced each other in the preliminary stage. With two previous meetings, both sides have won one final each, with the Swans winning the 2006 encounter 127 - 92, with Barry Hall spearheading the Swans to back-to-back grand finals with six goals at Stadium Australia.
Meanwhile, the Dockers remain the last team to defeat the Swans at this stage after they won the 2013 preliminary final in Western Australia 99 - 74.
Thirteen years on, the Swans and the Dockers meet again for a third time, a record for both sides in the Preliminary Final, and whichever side can record their second win in this fixture will feature in next weekend’s Grand Final.
Collingwood nailbiters
Fremantle is not the only team the Swans have faced on multiple occasions in the Preliminary Final. Once in 2012 and again a decade later in 2022, the Swans have had some historic and memorable encounters against the Collingwood Magpies.
The first in 2012 would ultimately see the Swans go on to win their tenth premiership; however, the win over Collingwood a week earlier was a big achievement in its own right as the Swans broke an 11-game losing streak against the Pies in a Jude Bolton 300 game. Advancing to the grand final with a 96 - 70 point victory at Stadium Australia.
10 years on, the Swans would face off against the Pies for a spot in the grand final, and the two historic sides would put on a game to remember at the SCG. The Swans controlled the opening three terms and entered the final quarter with a commanding 36-point lead.
However, the Pies would mount a fierce comeback in the second half, kicking five of the final six goals to narrow the margin to just three points with just under three minutes remaining. The red and white would overcome the relentless Pies, who were unable to kick another major in the closing stages as the Bloods advanced to the Grand Final by a single point.
The last time on this stage
The last time the Swans played in a Preliminary Final was two years ago, when the second-placed Port Adelaide arrived at the SCG, determined to defeat the red and white minor premiers.
A meeting between the two sides a month earlier was the major talking point heading into the Preliminary Final as the Power defeated the Swans by a resounding 112 points at the Adelaide Oval and extended their undefeated run against the Bloods to eight games.
This time at home, the Swans kicked four goals to two in the first quarter and never looked back, really separating the game with a five-major second term. The red and white would all but secure their spot in the grand final by the end of the third term after establishing a 40-point lead by three-quarter time before cruising to the final siren.
With another opportunity to make more history this Friday night, Dean Cox and stand-in captain Dan Rampe will lead the red and white once again onto a sold-out SCG in a preliminary final, one step away from the grand final and a possible eleventh premiership title.
Preliminary final history since moving to Sydney
1996 Essendon: 70-69 Win at the SCG
2003 Brisbane Lions: 100-56 Loss at Stadium Australia
2005 St Kilda: 96-65 Win at the MCG
2006 Fremantle: 127 - 92 Win at Stadium Australia
2012 Collingwood: 96-70 Win at Stadium Australia
2013 Fremantle: 99-74 Loss at Subiaco Oval
2014 North Melbourne: 136-65 Win at Stadium Australia
2016 Geelong: 97-60 Win at the MCG
2022 Collingwood: 95-94 Win at the SCG
2024 Port Adelaide 95-59 Win at the SCG
