RIVALRY FOR THE AGES

It was one of the greatest rivalries the game has seen and, fittingly, Sydney and West Coast go head-to-head in this round at the SCG. While the fortunes of both have fluctuated in recent times, the mid-2000s saw the Swans and the Eagles play out the most consecutive thrillers in AFL/VFL history – six (see table below).

It started with the 2005 qualifying final when West Coast held on by four points to defeat Sydney at Subiaco Oval.

Three weeks later, the Swans reversed that result in the Grand Final by the same margin in a low-scoring but absorbing contest.

The game ebbed and flowed and it was not until Sydney’s Leo Barry took a match-saving mark in the final seconds that the Swans prevailed by four points. It was Sydney’s first premiership since 1933.

The teams didn’t meet the following season until round 15, but it was another cliff-hanger as the Eagles got home by two points at Subiaco.

Almost two months later, they met again in the qualifying final at Subiaco, but this time the Swans prevailed by the barest possible margin.

Surely they couldn’t do it again in a Grand Final?

Well, the 2006 decider was another classic.

After a blistering first half, the Eagles held off the fast-finishing Swans to win a third flag, and their first since 1994, gaining revenge for the previous season’s heartbreaking defeat.

It was the fifth consecutive match between the teams to be decided by less than a goal, and the first Grand Final to be decided by a point since St Kilda edged out Collingwood in 1966.

But wait – there was more!

The AFL’s fixturing department knew they were on to a good thing, so they wisely scheduled the Swans and Eagles to meet in the opening round of 2007.

And it was almost a carbon copy of the previous year’s Grand Final with West Coast getting up by the same margin – one point.

There was somewhat of an anti-climax in the return clash in 2007 as the Eagles won by a ‘whopping’ 12 points in round 16 at Subiaco.