Round 18 – The Greatest Showmen

Sydney v Essendon – Round 17, 1987

When glam-metal rockers Bon Jovi released their smash-hit album Slippery When Wet, they captured the sense of malaise among young people, particularly young men. The mid-eighties were dominated by tight pants, permed hair, and a sense of dissatisfaction among youth. For the Essendon Bombers of 1987, on a disastrous day, the SCG became their very own arena of annoyance as our Swannies scored a club record 236 points.

Through the 1986 and 1987 seasons, the Sydney Swans had blasted their way through many an opposition side. The SCG stronghold was real; we were confident and in command. Over three wonderful weeks in July of 1987, we were the headline act of football, kicking an incredible 201, 236, and 198 points.

For Swans team-of-the-century member Tony Morwood, the arrival of coach Tom Hafey, coupled with the acquisition of several star players, meant that the team improved and box-office appeal came with it. "There were two key things. There were no real smarts about Tommy's coaching, it was just based around incredibly hard training." He adds, "For the players already at the Swans, Tommy's arrival created some self-confidence for us, having had success and that brought optimism for the players. At the same time, some quality players came along and we added some great players to a team that already had some really good players within the club."

Over that period, the renowned recruits included Greg 'Diesel' Williams, Gerard Healy, Bernard Toohey, Merv Neagle, David Bolton, Glenn Coleman, and Neil Cordy.

Victorian State-of-Origin representative and exceptionally reliable defender Cordy recalls the team of that era and reflects on what might have been, had circumstances been different. "That midfield was unbelievable. We had Williams, Healy, and Mitchell on the ball. Then we had David Murphy on one wing and David Bolton on the other, we had Stevie Wright and Merv Neagle. It was just an incredible team in every aspect really. They were all at their peak." He continues, "The team was that good, we should have at least contested a Grand Final. It wasn't helped by the fact that despite finishing third, our reward was playing finals on the MCG. It's reflective of the AFL as an expanded version of the VFL."

Due to the fact that we were the only non-Victorian based team in the competition at the time, all finals remained in Melbourne. Morwood echoes Cordy's sentiments. "The sad fact was that in 86-87, we finished second and third on the ladder, but due to the fact that it wasn't a national competition, we had to travel to Victoria to play our finals and didn't win a final. It's certainly an advantage for interstate teams to get that home ground advantage in the final, and it's also certainly an advantage for a Victorian team to host a final, so it's super advantageous."

On this famous afternoon, after kicking a then club-record 201 points against West Coast, the Swans highlighted our premiership credentials with a sizzling display. Cordy suggests the game-style of 1980's footy was more susceptible to high-scoring although this was unexpected. "Football was without a doubt, a better spectacle. What really struck me about this game was how the goal-scoring for us seemed to just gather huge momentum." He continues, "At quarter-time, we were only two points up. Then it really opened up for us in the second quarter, we kicked ten goals, and then it was another eight in the third. One of my distinct memories is that the crowd was cheering to get us past 200 again. You could just tell they wanted us to. Brett Scott was playing in the centre and he kicked his third goal to get us past 200. But, then in the last five or so minutes, we kicked another six goals to get us to 236 points. It was thirteen goals to one in the last quarter, which is just phenomenal."

The SCG stands seemed more like those of the Sydney Entertainment Centre during one of five sold-out gigs on the Slippery When Wet tour, as the red and white reveled. Morwood reflects, "My memory of this game was that out on the field, we could very much sense a social atmosphere at the ground. We couldn't do a thing wrong, the opposition couldn't do a thing right and the defensive efforts, whilst we might have been a very good team, were very poor. I don't think there was much tackling on their part and we were running our own race."

"It was certainly good fun and to have three huge wins, three weeks in a row was enjoyable. At the end of the day, all of that publicity was really important for us to try and cement ourselves in Sydney."

While the three-week stretch was awe-inspiring, it was also unexpected. "One of the things that made this scoreline so surprising was that we did this without Diesel Williams. He was absolutely at the peak of his powers." Cordy recalls. "Another remarkable thing was just how strong Essendon was at the time. They had gone back-to-back in '84 & '85 and when you go through their team that day, they had three or four guys who would be among Essendon's greatest players ever. This was a really good Essendon team."

"The stats are interesting too. The disposals are reflective, we had 356-250. But the interesting one is the tackles. It's nothing compared to modern tackling, but the Swans made 36 tackles to Essendon's 25. I reckon those Essendon blokes had just had enough!" Cordy exclaims.

While the midfielders gorged themselves on possessions, forwards and defenders alike could sense the opportunity for goals. "The spread of goalkickers was amazing. There were eleven multiple goal scorers," Cordy recalls. "Capper got six and I reckon they were all queuing up. The reason he only got six was that everyone was kicking it over his head looking for a goal. Mark Browning and Mark Bayes definitely weren't playing in the forward line! They were coming down off half-back and just lining up to kick goals. It was actually hard for forwards to get a goal that day because everybody was just taking shots at goal!"

Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy has been quoted as saying that he could still hear the roar of 'Up there for Sydney' years later as it had blared through the SCG speakers after every one of our 36 goals. The poor Swanettes had reached near-exhaustion.

Although the wins were enjoyable, the publicity that followed had both positive and negative effects on the team, according to Morwood. "Absolutely we got enormous publicity at that time and it was always driven by the romance of having private ownership with Dr. Edelsten, Warwick was kicking goals and the marketing side of things had us being flamboyant and successful." He continues, "We were getting so much publicity and our egos went up a bit. I guess when you score 200 points three weeks in a row, they would."

"Being Sydney-based, it was always us against them and that was a really good motivator every week. I think we thrived on that and used that as a positive. We had a good year in '87 and we had these three weeks of just absolutely being on a roll and I think in the end that might have hurt our chances for the flag. We didn't get those hard, tough games, and then when the pressure came on us in the finals, I don't think we were ready for the contest."

Despite not reaching their ultimate goal, the Swans of 1986-87 remain highly regarded as one of the greatest teams in our proud history. Most ably lead by club legend Dennis Carroll, these were our greatest entertainers.