Ryan Clarke will stand alone as a solo beacon of interclub rivalry as the Swans chase a much-needed win over North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
After the much-celebrated transfers of Wayne Schwass and Shannon Grant in the 1990s, among others, Clarke is the only player to have played for both clubs this century.
So, in modern times at least it is a rivalry built largely on the simple premise of one club against another. As simple as black and white, except it’s blue and red. Or more specifically, North v South.
And as the Swans look to end a four-game losing streak they can draw confidence from an overwhelmingly positive recent head-to-head against the former club of coach John Longmire.
In 35 meetings since the turn of the century Sydney have enjoyed a 26-8 advantage, with one draw. And in 10 meetings at Marvel Stadium, it’s 8-1 to Sydney, with one draw.
Not since Round 7, 2018, when a late goal from North’s Mason Wood gave them a two-point win at the SCG, have the Swans fallen to the Roos. By chance, the immediate score before the Wood winner was a behind to Clarke, who had 22 possessions to rank among his side’s best.
Brownlow Medal votes in games between the clubs in this period favor Sydney 129-63. The Swans have polled twice as often and twice as many three-vote ratings.
In key statistics, it’s similarly lopsided. In 30-possession games between the clubs Sydney have had 28 and North 18. In hauls of four goals or more, Sydney have had 20 and North 10.
If it was as simple as numbers it would have been payback for the Swans loss to North in the 1996 grand final, but the reality for Swans fans is that nothing will wipe the memories of a game which Longmire, then in his prime as a player at North, missed through injury before winning a flag in 1999.
Clarke, 45 games into his Swans career after 40 games with the Kangaroos, is 2-0 in games against his former club, having enjoyed a five-point win in Hobart in his first game against the Roos in 2019 and a 38-point win at Marvel Stadium in 2022.
The entire 2023 Swans playing list have a combined 144-18 record against North wearing red and white. Seventeen players have never lost to North, headed by Tom McCartin’s 6-0 record, and six others have lost only once – Lance Franklin is 8-1, Callum Mills, Tom Papley and Will Hayward are 7-1, Ollie Florent 6-1 and Robbie Fox 5-1. Luke Parker is 14-2, Jake Lloyd 10-2, Isaac Heeney 9-2, Dane Rampe 10-3 and Harry Cunningham 9-3.
Swans v Kangaroos rivalry – in more detail
Ground by ground
The Swans are 11-4 against the Kangaroos at the SCG since 2000 and 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium. They are 8-1-1 at Marvel Stadium and in neutral venues it’s 2-2 in Canberra and 3-0 to the Swans in Hobart.
Brownlow Medal
Adam Goodes has been the individual standout in games between the clubs since 2000, polling seven times for 17 votes, with three best afield ratings. Luke Parker (13), Dan Hannebery (11), Josh Kennedy (10) have been next best for the Swans, while Brent Harvey (9), Jack Ziebel (9) and Shannon Grant (7) have polled best for the Roos.
Major possession-winners
Tom Mitchell, now at Collingwood, holds the record for most possessions in a game between the clubs since 2000, having had 41 in a 26-point win at the SCG in 2016. Josh Kennedy (4), Luke Parker (3) and Dan Hannebery (3) head the 30-possession games count, while Jy Simpkin (2), Ben Cunnington (2) and Jamie Macmillian (2) are the only North players to have topped 30 possessions more than once against Sydney.
Major goal-kickers
Barry Hall’s six goals against North in Canberra in 2006, when the Swans kicked the last three goals to win by seven points, is the most in a Sydney-North game this century. Hall, Lance Franklin, Nick Davis and Ben Ronke also had kicked bags of five, while Jack Ziebell, Sav Rocca and Digby Morrell did likewise for the Roos. Hall has kicked five bags of four or more goals for the Swans against the Roos, while Shannon Grant’s three four-goals against the club where he started his career is the equivalent best for North.
Highest scores, biggest wins
The Swans’ highest score against the Kangaroos this century is 23.13 (151) at the SCG all the way back in 2001, when Rodney Eade was coach. And the biggest Swans win came 15 weeks later, again at the SCG, when they prevailed by 107 points – 22.11 (143) to 3.18 (36). In both games they had 13 different goal-kickers, but nobody kicked more than three. The 107-point win is the Swans biggest in 167 games against the Roos all-time.
The Ratten factor
Saturday’s game will see ex-Carlton and St Kilda coach Brett Ratten, a part-time assistant at North this year, play the role of caretaker coach after Alastair Clarkson stood aside for personal reasons.
John Longmire has a 5-4 coaching record against Ratten – 1-2 against Carlton from 2011-12 and 4-2 against St Kilda from 2019-22.
Oddly, Ratten’s last game as an AFL coach was also against Longmire at Marvel in Round 23 last year, when the Swans won by 14 points to end the Saints’ faint finals hopes. It was one of the rare games when the losing side picked up all the Brownlow Medal votes, with ex-Swan Dan Hannebery taking three votes for 30 possessions in what turned out to be his last game.
Kangaroos form guide
The Swans will have a Kangaroos side going through similarly tough times, having gone 2-7 through the first nine rounds of the season to sit 16th on the ladder. They beat West Coast at Marvel and Fremantle in Perth in Rounds 1-2, but have lost seven in a row since then, going down to Port Adelaide by 70 points in Hobart last week.
First-year player Harry Sheezel has been their leading possession-winner, averaging 27.9 possessions per game. With No.2 ball-winner Luke Davies-Uniacke sidelined by injury, ex-captain Jack Ziebell (25.56) is next best with co-captain Jy Simpkin (22.14).