My top 5 Sydney - Collingwood Games

[dawson]

For mind - these are they..........

1) Round 22, 1995 SCG

This was the equation - win and we lose our draft concessions, lose and the Pies make the finals to meet Carlton in a blockbuster and to top it all off Ronald Dale Barassi's last ever game as coach.
Also a win sees Brisbane make the finals for the first ever time.

Pies were on top with Craig Kelly and Gary Pert annoying Lockett all day as Pies went to half time with a 25 point lead.

Paul Kelly in the last game of his Brownlow medal winning season led the fightback with Derek Kickett starring as well.

Lockett was let off the leash as we kicked 13 goals to 5 after half time.

After we all ran on the ground and booed Allan McAllister (you think Eddie is annoying)

Watch the game every now and then and after the game, Dennis Cometti says, "These fans have something to look forward to next season."

Freaky.

2) Round 10, 1999 SCG

To think that Lockett would break Gordon Coventry's record at the SCG and against Collingwood and 1300 came via Kelly is so surreal, I still can't believe it actually worked out that way.

The game against the Eagles the week before was mayhem but we lost the game and he kicked three of six.

1298 - via a Frosty pass as he ran around to improve the angle.
1299 - Leo bombed long to the square. Mal Michael and Monkey took out each other as Tony turned around and kicked truly from point blank.
Almost 1300 - had an air swing in the goal square
1300 - right on quarter time, Kelly passed to Lockett who threaded it through.

Also we won the game by 51 points.

3) Round 9, 1997 SCG

Pies started on fire and kicked 5.1 to 1.1 in the opening quarter. By memory, Richard Osborne kicked a good goal.

Anyhow we fought back in the second quarter with a 60m bomb from Dale Lewis forever staying in my mind.

After the first quarter we kicked 15 goals to 6 in what was a fun night.

4) Round 13, 1986 Victoria Park

To go to Vic Park and live to tell the tale is a feat in itself. The players nearly didn't do that as a near riot happened after the Swans won by just 1 point.

Down by 3 goals at three quarter time, side rallied bravely to register the narrowest of victories.

Sweet for Tommy Hafey to go down there and stick it to his former deranged fans.

5) Round 9, 1989, SCG

My first ever game of footy. It was exciting and we won. Don't remember much except that Leon Higgins threaded a nice goal from the boundary

[Plugger46]

You could add Round 7 1998, I think it was. Plugger had a massive bandage on his leg, but still managed to kick 10. What a player that man was.

[Bart]

You can't leave out Round 4 2000 when Schwass kicked a contentious behind (Ump got confused, signalled touched, then signalled post) with seconds left to give Sydney a 1 pt lead, only from the ensuing kick in for the ball to end up with Anthony Rocca with basically the last kick of the game.

It was the start of a 5 game losing streak. Pies won 2 more to be 5 and 5, and I think they won 2 for the rest of the year

[Xie Shan]

I remember a low-scoring war of attrition at Docklands in 2001 where the Swans from memory had no-one fit on the bench and several on the field who shouldn't have been there - and we hung on to win by 3 goals.

And who could forget Rd 6, 2003? I doubt I'll ever forget Nick Davis' goal and celebration after what he'd endured from the crowd all game

[Ruda Wakening]

Originally posted by sydfan83


And who could forget Rd 6, 2003? I doubt I'll ever forget Nick Davis' goal and celebration after what he'd endured from the crowd all game

Ditto

[Plugger46]

Originally posted by sydfan83
I remember a low-scoring war of attrition at Docklands in 2001 where the Swans from memory had no-one fit on the bench and several on the field who shouldn't have been there - and we hung on to win by 3 goals.

If my memory serves me correctly, that was the game Jamesy shattered us all, when he did his hamstring.

[BAM_BAM]

Originally posted by Plugger46
If my memory serves me correctly, that was the game Jamesy shattered us all, when he did his hamstring.

your memory serves you very well P46.

[nicko18]

Originally posted by sydfan83

And who could forget Rd 6, 2003? I doubt I'll ever forget Nick Davis' goal and celebration after what he'd endured from the crowd all game

man that was good. i have only ever been to one collingwood match, and that was the game at the docklands last year... fantastic atmosphere, poor result but plugger kicked a goal (his last?)

[Bear]

All I can say is Teasa, 1977, Victoria Park.

I was just a little boy but vividly remember him absolutely dominating the air like I have never seen a player do since.

There may be one or two on the board who were fortunate enough to witness it...

[robbieando]

My top 5

1998 at the MCG

Everything about the match was great, even though the ground was swaped from Waverley to Vic Park to the MCG in a matter of weeks. To top it all off it was my birthday that night as well

1986 at Vic Park

Winning was sweet, winning because of a free kick was better, the Collingwood fans rioting was priceless

1995 at the SCG

Ronald Dale's last match and it meant we kept the Pies out of the finals and it was years before they got that close again.

1996 at the SCG

Coming off 2 losses to start the season off, the win set us on course for the magical season we had, plus Lockett kicked a bag and Dunks messed with the point post and won.

2001 at Docklands

Held on in the last quarter with only 16 fit players and not one interchange at all.

[dawson]

Robbie,

You couldn't find a place for Plugger's 1300th in your top 5??

Is that because as a game it was nothing much?

[robbieando]

Yep, as a game itself the 1300 game wasn't anything special except for Lockett kicking his 1300th goal. To me the other 5 were more special to me.

[Plugger46]

Originally posted by Bear
All I can say is Teasa, 1977, Victoria Park.

I was just a little boy but vividly remember him absolutely dominating the air like I have never seen a player do since.

There may be one or two on the board who were fortunate enough to witness it...

Nico and his brother, who happens to be my father, never stop talking about that game. They reckon he took 27 marks or something. That must have been amazing. We've actually been looking for footage of the game, but have been unable to obtain any.

I wish I was there to see it, because many people rate it as the best individual performance they've ever seen.

Plugger's 1300, the last game of '95, or Rd 7 1998, would get my nod though.

[treespirit]

Not a Swans game but 2002 was my first grand final and the pies going down to my second favourite team was sweet!!

[Scottee]

Nico and his brother, who happens to be my father, never stop talking about that game. They reckon he took 27 marks or something. That must have been amazing. We've actually been looking for footage of the game, but have been unable to obtain any.

Plugger 46, I had the pleasure to be at that game and see the display that your dad was talking about. It was the best marking exhibition I have seen by any player. Swan or not. I understant it rates fairly highly against the effort of Ron Clegg in the 1950s, who had 49 kicks and took 32 marks against Fitzroy.(This is second best effort on the all time AFL/VFL stats list).

However, I digress, the best game IMHO the Swans have played against Collingwood was played in 1970(the year they made the final 4). It was in about the middle of the season and the public were just waking up that the Swans were the real deal that year.
The atmosphere was electric, and at a ground that was supposed to hold 38000 there were well over 40000 people.

This was the best home and home game I have ever seen and it rates with the 1 point victory in the 96 Prelim Final and the drawn Grand Final between Collingwood and North Melbourne.

The score was see- sawing all day, however, during the middle part of the last quarter Collingwood drew away. As the clock ticked over into time on the Swans were 3.3 behind after Collingwood had scored a goal.

The fire went out amongst the crowd and people started leaving, thinking there was no chance. By about the 27 minute mark the Swans scored a goal after a couple of behinds and the score was about 2 goals the difference. There seemed to be a little bit of a chance, but that's all, only a minute to go. Then another point and another goal, I think from Sudholz and it was 5 points the diff.

From the centre bounce the ball was sent up forward for big Sudholz to mark. He missed it but the ball went over the back of the pack and Stephen Hoffman(one of the best goal sneaks you will ever see, similar to Schneider but smaller an probably faster) grabbed it and put it through. The crowd simply erupted , they hadn't seen a Swans side like that for many a year. Dead silence in the Collingwood section though.

The Swans were one point in the lead at the 28 minute mark. The Centre bounce took place and Collingwood took possession. A long kick was sent down to Peter McKenna(who had kicked a bag) and looked like a certain mark and probable goal(he was amazingly accurate). Only trouble was that during the flight of the ball the siren had sounded and the mark wasn't paid. The crowd was yelling so loud no -one could hear the siren up my end. It was a damn good thing that the umpire could.

As I said, in my opinion this was the best home and home round match I have ever seen.

If you ever get a chance to see a replay I would highly recommend it.