As much-needed heavy rain soaks the harbour city, Sydney Swans Media goes 24 years back in time to a game hit with wild weather.

It was August 31, 1996 and, in the Sydney Swans’ last game of the regular season, they had a chance to lock up their first minor premiership since South Melbourne claimed the silverware in 1945.

This was a team that hadn’t played finals footy since 1987 and that had finished last on the ladder in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

And while the Swans had made genuine progress in 1995, they still finished with just eight wins from 22 games.

But although the Swans trumped the West Coast Eagles in the 1996 SCG clash in a 12.13 (85) to 6.14 (50) victory, the significance of the win extended far beyond the drought-breaking minor premiership.

In the words of former Swans defender Brad Seymour many moons later, “the minor premiership doesn’t mean much”.

What mattered was Sydney had overcome terrible conditions and a host of injuries to key players to beat a fierce opponent, an affirmation of the team’s tenacious character on the cusp of a finals campaign.

A 30,577-strong crowd took on torrential rain and gale-force winds as the Swans, who were already missing star forward Tony Lockett, held on to win despite losing Paul Roos (thigh), Stuart Maxfield (thigh) and Wade Chapman (neck) during the match.

That meant the Swans finished the game with no rotations available as, in those days, the bench was limited to just three men.

It was an extraordinary defensive effort in the final term that saw the Swans stave off the Eagles to book their first final in Sydney, a day 14 years in the making.

Sydney led by 19 points at the final change but was kicking against a howling wind in the last term.

West Coast dominated possession and field territory early in the term and recorded the first four scores of the quarter, the red-and-white faithful growing uneasy. 

But, remarkably, the Eagles’ four early behinds were all they would score, the Swans fighting doggedly and stealing three goals en route to a 35-point win.

A shudder was sent through Sydney’s camp when Derek Kickett, who actually played a brilliant game, fumbled at the goalmouth but scrapped to prevent a Guy McKenna goal.

Simon Arnott booted a goal to seal the win and, despite SCG Trust rules, thousands of Swans supporters burst onto the ground at the sound of the final siren.

Seymour, who collected 18 touches and was crucial to the Swans’ desperate defending, has fond memories of the win.

“Wins like that reveal character. It was a gritty sort of win. Any time in life you face adversity and you overcome it, it feels good. It was gritty, we got down and dirty and we dug in,” Seymour said.

“At that particular time, we were very skilful and we could move the ball really well. But this was a different type of win. This was a roll-the-sleeves-up, blue-collar kind of win, or as we’d learn in subsequent years, more of a ‘Bloods’ win."

Daryn Cresswell (three), Greg Stafford (two) and McKenna (one) won the Brownlow votes, but Seymour remembers Kickett, who slotted three goals, as the stand-out of the day.

The Indigenous Western Australian played 152 senior games for North Melbourne, Essendon and Sydney between 1989 and 1996.

When asked about the atrocious weather in Sydney’s 1996 clash with West Coast, Seymour was quick to point out Kickett’s stellar game.

“Very, very tough conditions. Derek Kickett made it look like a dry day,” Seymour said.

“Such was his talent and his ability to execute. He was dynamic and at times breathtaking. If there was one person, if you were a forward, that you wanted to lead to when they had the ball, it was Derek Kickett. I don’t think there was a better kick of the footy in our side in that period. He was just a beautiful, beautiful exponent of the drop punt.

“At training he would do stuff that (2005 premiership hero) Nick Davis could do. You’d be training and the whistle would go and you’d jog it in and he’d just turn around off two steps, 55 or 60 metres from goal, and he’d put a ‘torp’ straight through. It was effortless.”

Interestingly, the iconic chant of “Syd-ney, Syd-ney” was first heard in the Swans’ match against the Eagles, beginning in the final quarter and carrying coach Rodney Eade’s men to victory.

“It still resonates with me 24 years later,” Seymour said.

“It is enormously uplifting. The buzz it gives you, it helps galvanise the group and it helps keep you focused so the human mind doesn’t wander – and it’s good at that. The crowd and the noise and the emotion in the stadium – it was glue for the team.”

The Swans beat Hawthorn in their historic first final in Sydney the following week, before pipping Essendon in a one-point preliminary-final thriller.

And while they’d lose to North Melbourne in the Grand Final and have to wait until 2005 to win their sixth premiership cup, Round 22, 1996 will always hold a special place in Swans folklore.