We continue our countdown to the biggest event in the Club’s history - the 25 year Anniversary Dinner. Follow the highs and lows of each year the Swans have been in Sydney every day on sydneyswans.com.au leading up to the event. Here is 1997...

The AFL competition looked different in 1997. Fitzroy had merged with Brisbane, to create an entity known as the Brisbane Lions, and Port Adelaide had been admitted to the League.

The Swans were looking a little different as well – gone from the team who had played in the 1996 Grand Final were Derek Kickett, who had retired, Adam Heuskes who was playing for Port Adelaide, and Grand Final emergencies Anthony Rocca and Justin Crawford, each of whom had gone to join their older brothers at Collingwood and Hawthorn respectively.

Just like 1996, 1997 started with two losses for the Sydney Swans – against West Coast at Subiaco and the newly renamed Western Bulldogs at Optus Oval. However a winning streak beginning in round three did not materialise in 1997 as it had in ’96, and the team’s form was patchy for the first half of the season.

At the close of round 12 the Swans’ account stood at six wins and six losses.

The team really found its form coming into the second half of the season, and a highlight was the round 17 game against the second-placed Western Bulldogs, in which the sixth-placed Swans won by 97 points, and in which the perceived rivalry between the Sydney team and the man who personified the Bulldogs, Tony Liberatore, was ramped up a notch.

A sizeable victory over Melbourne at the MCG followed in round 18, before another full house at the SCG saw Sydney take on St Kilda in round 19.

By this stage, the team had extended its home winning streak to 20 matches. The SCG crowd had not seen a loss since round two of the 1996 season – it is probable that much of the crowd who were there that night had never been present for a loss at all!

However, that was to change against St Kilda. Despite having a 38-point lead in the third quarter, the Swans let the Saints back into the game and ultimately lost by nine points.

The Swans bounced back the following week against second-bottom team Hawthorn, but a round 21 loss to Carlton saw our chances of a home final all but slip away, and the round 22 match against Geelong took on even greater importance.

Again the SCG was bursting at the seams – official attendance figures put the crowd at 46,168. Before the senior game even started, we knew a home final was now out of reach due to the result of the Hawthorn vs. Western Bulldogs game which had been played at Waverley that afternoon, but the team was still playing for fifth or sixth position on the ladder, and therefore a possible double chance come finals time.

It was not to be, however, as second-placed Geelong maintained a slender lead for the duration of the game, and ultimately defeated the Swans 15.10 (100) to 13.12 (90). Thus the Swans finished with 12 wins and 10 losses for the season, in sixth position on the ladder, and a tough assignment in the first week of the finals – the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.

The Qualifying Final against the Bulldogs was not one of the Swans’ better performances for the year. Trailing by 46 points at half-time, and being comprehensively outplayed by the Bulldogs, the situation looked hopeless.

The Swans clawed the margin back slightly during the third quarter, but the Bulldogs maintained their dominance over Sydney and the final score was Western Bulldogs 18.11 (119) to Sydney 12.12 (84).

Whether or not the Sydney team continued in the 1997 season was now dependant on the results of other games. St Kilda needed to beat Brisbane the following day, and Geelong to beat North Melbourne the following night in order to stay alive in the finals series.

St Kilda did the right thing and disposed of Brisbane, but when North Melbourne, inspired by Wayne Carey and his seven goals, upset Geelong, the Swans’ season was suddenly and unceremoniously over.