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 2004...

The Sydney Swans’ first assignment for season 2004 was to face reigning Premiers Brisbane at the Gabba. They acquitted themselves well, but opened the season with a two-point loss.

Wins over Fremantle, Geelong and the Kangaroos followed, but the team then embarked on a four game losing streak which saw them precariously placed in tenth position on the ladder after eight rounds.

The 2004 season, particularly early on, was characterised by injuries to Swans players. Michael O’Loughlin missed five games with a hamstring injury, Andrew Schauble was unavailable until round 15, Lewis Roberts-Thomson managed only seven games for the year as a result of an assortment of injuries, while Adam Schneider and Nick Davis were each only available for 12 games throughout the season.

Additionally, Adam Goodes sustained a knee injury in the opening seconds of the round eight loss to West Coast, and was somewhat hampered for the remainder of the year.

However, they still managed to win many more games than they lost throughout the second half of the year, with the on-field highlight being the round 11 victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Facing the previously undefeated St Kilda, the Swans were victorious 17.10 (112) to 11.10 (76), with Leo Barry keeping dangerous St Kilda forward Fraser Gehrig kickless for the entire game.

That match was the springboard for the Swans run to the finals, and four wins from the last five games saw them finish the season in sixth position on the ladder with 14 wins and eight losses for the year.

The Club’s first final was an 11.9 (75) to 4.10 (34) victory against seventh-placed West Coast, a game memorable for being played in a spectacular thunderstorm at Telstra Stadium, and for Matthew Nicks’ feat of ensuring the Eagles’ goalsneak Phillip Matera did not get a kick.

The following week the Swans faced St Kilda in a semi-final at the MCG, and on this occasion the Saints had the upper hand, ending Sydney’s season with a final score of 16.11 (107) to 8.8 (56).

In the 2004 season, a terrible tragedy struck the Sydney Swans. During the round 19 match against the Kangaroos at the Sydney Cricket Ground, head trainer Wally Jackson suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.

Wally had been with the Club for many years, and was much beloved by players and staff alike.

His ready grin, wicked sense of humour and ability to strap an ankle just right had endeared him to all. It is people like Wally who make a football club seem more like a family than a business, and he has been deeply missed by all at the Sydney Swans. (picture, Wally’s son Chris with Adam Goodes after the emotional round 20 win over Melbourne the week following Wally’s passing).