A year before two interstate teams battled it out on the last Saturday of September, the day when Stuart Dew kicked started a remarkable career and Port Adelaide snatched the Premiership from Brisbane, who had captured the Premiership three years in a row.
A year later two completely different interstate teams in the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles took part in the first of two epic grand finals between the two sides.
The Swans were looking for their first Premiership for 72 years, back when they were South Melbourne.
Barry Hall led the Swans out onto the MCG as they looked to finally capture another flag, with their ‘Bloods’ culture showing in the way that they had played throughout the season.
The Swans finished third on the ladder, winning close games in the finals series to land them in the grand final.
They had lost to West Coast by under a goal in the Qualifying Final at Subiaco, and then came back in the last quarter, courtesy of Nick Davis kicking four last-quarter goals, to beat Geelong at the SCG in the Semi-Final.
They then travelled to Etihad Stadium and beat St Kilda by 31 points in the preliminary final to get into the grand final.
The 2005 Brownlow Medallist Ben Cousins led the West Coast Eagles into the grand final, looking for a third Premiership in their short history, having also won Premierships in 1992 and 1994.
The Eagles had finished second on the ladder behind Adelaide. They then beat Sydney by four points in the Qualifying Final, and beat Adelaide in the preliminary final by 16 points to book a place on the last Saturday of September.
Two players who had played in the Eagles’ 1994 Premiership were playing in the grand final of 2005, with Drew Banfield playing for the Eagles and Jason Ball playing for the Swans.
Barry Hall and the Swans won the toss and elected to kick to the City End, where their cheer squad was situated.
The first quarter saw the Eagles come out playing aggressive footy.
But they couldn’t convert their dominance onto the scoreboard, as they scored two goals and four points, with Mark Nicoski kicking the first goal of the game from the boundary, with big ruckman Dean Cox kicking the Eagles second with a superb running goal.
The Swans ended up leading by two points at quarter time, with Darren Jolly earning a free kick and kicking the Swans first goal.
With a minute to go Adam Schneider roved off a pack to banana a goal through, Barry Hall getting a free kick in the shadows of quarter time, which he converted.
The second quarter saw Sydney dominate a bit more than they did in the first, kicking three goals to none to lead by 20 points at the half-time break.
Michael O’Loughlin kicked the Swans first for the quarter after marking a pass from Buchanan.
Sean Dempster then capped off a wonderful piece of play by passing to the Irishman Tadhg Kennelly, who kicked the goal from the boundary. Champion Swan Adam Goodes then roved off the pack to snap through a goal from the goal square on his left foot.
The Swans were in total command, but little did they know that the Eagles were going to hit back hard.
In the third quarter the Eagles reversed the tide, kicking three goals to none. Eagles coach John Worsfold sent defender Adam Hunter forward, with the Eagles tall forwards not taking marks or kicking goals.
It paid off as Hunter set up Embley, who kicked the first goal of the ‘Premiership quarter’.
Embley then paddled the ball in the forward line before kicking a shaky left footer to the goal square, where Swans defenders missed it.
The ball spilled to Hansen who managed to snap the ball through, sending the Eagles fans into elation.
Legendary midfielder Daniel Kerr took a while to decide where to kick it, but he finally made the right decision in spearing the ball to Hunter who was alone at the boundary. Hunter decided to go back and he slotted the goal, causing Hunter to jump for joy.
The difference at three quarter time was only two points Sydney’s way, with the Eagles getting right back into the low-scoring contest with a stunning third quarter.
The last quarter could have been mistaken for World War III. Every player threw themselves at the ball, not caring for their safety, just for how the team went.
But many weird mistakes were made in the last quarter, not just by the players but by the umpires too.
There were two goals kicked by either side in the final quarter, with the last quarter being a heroic time for many players.
The Swans defender of Luke Ablett had one arm held, but that didn’t stop him from plucking a skilful one handed mark in defence.
But his switch kick across goal was poor, landing in the hands of Brownlow Medallist and Eagles captain Ben Cousins, who went back and slotted the goal from the goal square, putting the Eagles in front during the process.
Kerr then sold some candy and sent the ball in towards the goal square, where Hunter leapt and took a great pack mark.
But the umpire Scott McLaren let Swans defenders in very close, but Hunter still used his limited space well to snap through the goal. Jolly then won a free kick and passed it to Hall.
Hall booted the ball through from outside fifty to bring the deficit back to four points.
The lead was then at five to the Eagles when Amon Buchanan weaved his way through the pack to put the Swans in front by a point.
The Swans were in front by five when the Eagles led a ferocious attack in the dying stages of the match.
As the ball was nearly soccered through, Kennelly rushed the ball through to bring the margin back down to four points.
As Kennelly passed it to Leo Barry, Barry bombed it outside fifty metres. Cox marked at the back and booted it straight back in on his left, with only seconds to go.
But as a big pack formed, Barry ran back from the side and with closed eyes took one of the best grand final marks ever, causing Channel Ten commentator Steven Quartermain to scream out, “Leo Barry you star!”
As Barry slowly trudged back, trying to avoid Swans and Eagles bodies lying on the ground after the mark, the siren sounded, causing pandemonium at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as 91,898 people watched on as Sydney finally broke the longest ever Premiership drought.
The Swans had won by four points with score being Sydney 8.10.58 to West Coast’s 7.12.54.
West Coast midfield maestro Chris Judd won the Norm Smith Medal for his brilliant performance, becoming the first player since Nathan Buckley in 2002 to win the best on ground medal from a losing side.
Swans coach Paul Roos famously lifted up the Premiership cup and announced, “To all of you South Melbourne and Sydney supporters who have been waiting 72 long years to win a Premiership…here it is!”
Barry Hall became a Premiership captain and Leo Barry became a superstar as the Sydney Swans won the 2005 Premiership, capping off a remarkable battle for the ultimate prize.
AFL matches like that united Australia, but there was more to come as the Eagles and Swans met in another epic grand final in 2006, with the Eagles looking for revenge.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
The Giants coach was not a happy man!
What a chase from Kieren Briggs!
Callum Brown is looking at a big suspension after concussion Tom McCartin with a heavy bump.
Last, year in the second showdown, Adelaide destroyed Port by 47 points with a staggering 20 marks inside 50 with Tex Walker the main star.
There’s no disputing that Cam Guthrie will be important against Melbourne, given Patrick Dangerfield is set to miss due to injury.
Collingwood led by a point with minutes to go, Kyle Langford had the chance to be the hero with a set shot, however, he missed, and we saw the first draw of the season.
