That was the miracle thatdid happen.

In the early 1990s,the Swans absolutely stunk,claiming three consecutive wooden spoons. Between the 1992 and 1993 seasons,they went on a 26-match losing streak that saw three coaches sacked and the SCG grandstands become wastelands as fans deserted them.

Then ownerMike Willesee offered to sell the club to its members,to which the members replied,“Ha! No thanks. All yours.”

Change came in the form of legendary coachRon Barassi,shrewd chairmanRichard Colless and,finally,a robust and rambunctious full forward called Tony Lockett.

The Swans faithful loathed Plugger,mostly because of what he did while playing for St Kilda toPeter Caven’s face.

Fans responded by releasing a piglet onto the SCG with “Plugger” painted on its belly. Plugger responded by lining up lippy fans while kicking for goal,launching kicks directly at their heads.

Sport is truly magical when played in this spirit.

Sydney loves a winner,though,especially one who’s rough around the edges and can pull off a mullet,and when Lockett arrived in 1995 he was instantly embraced.

Even with Lockett,the Swans looked like anything but grand finalists at the start of 1996 under new coachRodney Eade. They lost their first two matches by large margins but the tide eventually turned and Sydney won 13 of their last 16 regular season matches.

And so it was that the city came to love the Swans. Sure enough,the stands filled and the SCG became “The Fortress” because it was near impossible for visiting teams to win there.

They had tough players inPaul Kelly,Paul Roos andDaryn Cresswell,but the North Star was Lockett,anchored in the opposition goal square and swatting away defenders at will.

Come the preliminary final againstKevin Sheedy’s Essendon,the big fella had a big problem – a dodgy groin – but he took the field anyway.

The prelim was a cracker. Bombers sharpshooterMatthew Lloyd suffered broken ribs early and was rushed to hospital,yet his side led by as many as four goals at one point,then two goals with just four minutes remaining.

All looked lost – but Sydney refused to yield. First,Dale Lewis landed a goal. Then Creswell kicked another to level the scores with a minute remaining.

With 21 seconds to go,the ball foundWade Chapman,who marked,turned and kicked towards the top of the 50-metre arc.

“Look out!” Seven’sGerard Healy warned in commentary.

Lockett gobbled the ball into his big tummy. There were 12 seconds left on the clock.

Now,in normal circumstances,Lockett would have kicked the Sherrin into Botany Bay. But,with a bad groin,it wasn’t a given.

Standing downfield,Roos was deeply concerned.

“Normally,this would be like shelling peas for Plugger,” Roos has told me. “He’d kick this over the fence. But that groin was the issue.”

Plugger moved in. Torp? No,drop punt. The ball went high,wobbled through the air … passed through the sticks.

The roar of the crowd was so loud that Roos,Eade and others thought he’d kicked the goal and they didn’t learn until well after full-time that he had not.

Didn’t matter:the Swans had reached their first grand final in 51 years. Sheedy still says it’s his worst moment in footy.

The Swans lost the grand final a week later,but it was the start of the love affair between a city and its AFL team,which eventually won premierships in 2005 and 2012.

The story of “Plugger’s Point” is one of the moments I wrote about in the bookIf These Walls Could Talk:A Celebration of the Sydney Cricket Ground.Please support battling authors and buy a dozen copies.

“Two years before that,we’d been bottom for the third year in a row,” Colless said in the book. “We were an object of ridicule. People in Melbourne said it wouldn’t work. People in Sydney were asking,‘What are you doing here?’ You didn’t feel threatened,but nobody took you seriously,nobody respected you.”

Eade put it this way:“It was the point when the Swans were accepted in the city. That was the tipping point. Sydney,from that point,thought,‘The Swans are ours’.”

And they were. They are. Our weighted comfort blanket.

End to Warner’s ban in sight

The campaign to haveDavid Warner’s lifetime captaincy ban in Australian cricket lifted was started in January when Australia Cricketers Association bossTodd Greenberg wrote to the Cricket Australia board.

In that time,there’s been plenty of discussion and positioning behind the scenes and,more recently,very publicly with teammates – including captainPat Cummins – supporting Warner taking over fromAaron Finch as Australia’s ODI skipper.

The big question is whether it will happen and the smart money is on the ban slapped on Warner after the Sandpapergate scandal being lifted.

The CA board that banned Warner has changed dramatically since that decision. ChairmanDavid Peever and chief executiveJames Sutherland have moved on.

Warner is no fool and used a Kayo summer of cricket launch this week to further his case,making the extraordinary claim that the messy pay dispute four years ago was really behind the harsh ban.

“Unfortunately,a lot of the events before 2018 were with the board,” Warner said. “The MOU stuff and all that. There was a lot of stuff that was … things got over and above in terms of more than the Cape Town stuff. There was more to it. I think that’s where my decision,the penalty that was handed down was more of stuff that was happening before that.”

Either way,the day is looming when CA will need to make a call.

THE QUOTE
“Look,it was super strong – straight gin,dash of vermouth – and I just went,‘I can’t be the only one who gets caught drinking the Queen’s drink. So ‘Gits,you have a sip’.” – Former WallabyDrew Mitchell explains how he andMatt Giteau stole Queen Elizabeth II’s drink during a Wallabies’ visit to Windsor Castle.

THUMBS UP
The Maitland Pickers won their first Newcastle Rugby League grand final since 2011 with a resounding 40-4 win over Macquarie Scorpions on Sunday. The man of the match was propJayden Butterfield,who late the night before had become a father for the first time. “It’s been a big day,” he toldThe Newcastle Herald. Great stuff.

THUMBS DOWN
So saidPaul Gallen toJustin Hodges in the lead-up to their fight on Thursday:“Make sure you kiss your kids goodnight before you go to the boxing – hopefully,you wake up.” I know it’s boxing. I know it’s two retired footballers sledging each other to sell pay-for-view subscriptions. But this was very poor from Gal. I’m sure he regrets it.

It’s a big weekend for … Parramatta halfbackMitchell Moses,who is expected to play the semi-final against Canberra at CommBank Stadium on Friday night despite suffering concussion against Penrith. If the Eels don’t get past the plucky Raiders,you know where the finger of blame will be pointed – the playmaker who has won two from nine finals matches.

It’s an even bigger weekend for … Sydney’s light rail,which was sold to the good people of NSW as the solution to eye-popping traffic problems around big sporting events at Royal Randwick and Moore Park. On Saturday,there’s a massive 10-race program at Randwick,followed by Swans-Pies at the SCG then Sharks-Souths at Allianz Stadium. Your time to shine,Light Rail! Your time to shine.

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