The AFL Centenary
Cover below shows the Sydney Peel and Stick Stamps with the Sydney Commemorative
Pictorial Postmark (PM 1994) which was introduced on the 23rd April 1996.
The Swans chose
Bob Skilton on the cover of their stamp
Booklet and Tony Lockett
on their Postcard and maximum card.
On the 7th March 2000 the inaugural meeting of
the "Premiership Players Club" was held at the MCG to help raise funds for
charity. One Swans player was included in the 20 players pictured on the A4
sheet of 20 P stamps of the millennium issue. He was
Bob Pratt. The stamps were also
displayed on a set of 20 first day covers by Havilah Enterprises.
The 25th May 2000 marked the release of club and individual
2000
Personalised Stamps.
2001 represented their
twentieth season in Sydney. On the 30th
March the
2001 Personalised Stamps
was released. They scraped into the eight and finished eighth.
The news story of the draft was the on-off-on again
return of Tony Lockett to Sydney's list. After the initial high the season
started to fall apart with Pluggers initial injury and then early retirement.
The
2002 Personalised Stamps were issued on the
15th May 2002.
The
2003
Personalised Stamps were issued in
April 2003.
On the 8th August 2003 the Swans
Team of the
Century was announced at a Gala function at Darling
Harbour.
The Brownlow Medal ended in a three way tie for the first time
since 1930 with Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley, Adelaide skipper Mark
Ricciuto and Sydney ruckman
Adam Goodes
all taking home the league’s highest individual award at a gala Ceremony on 22nd
September 2003.
Sydney had two players named in the All Australian Team. They were
Adam Goodes and
Paul Williams.
The 2003 season was better than expected with the Swans making it to the
Preliminary Final, only to loose to eventual Premiers The Brisbane Lions.
2004 started with mediocre form. The
2004
Personalised Stamps were issued in mid April.This
year they were a booklet of 20 stamps showing 10 players, rather than the A4
sheet.
Leo Barry,
Barry Hall
and
Brett Kirk
made the All Australian Team.
On the 1st
April 2005 the Sydney Swans booklet of the
2005
Personalised Stamps was released. The Indigenous Team Of
the Century was named at a lavish function at the Palladium on the 1st August 2005.
First Class Collectables produced a set of covers. Signed player covers
included Michael O'Loughlin.
First Class Collectables issued covers to commemorate the Best and Fairest
winnersincluding
Brett Kirk for Sydney.
Finally after
72 years, and 23 years after the move to Sydney, the Swans tasted September
success winning the 2005
Premiership.
On the 20th
March 2006 the Swans
booklet of the
2006 Personalised Stamps was
released.
Onlycovers released the Captains series with covers including
Barry Hall. On the 22nd June 2006
Tony Lockett was inducted
into
the AFL Hall of Fame. Round 16 was the Heritage Round with clubs
wearing jumpers from a previous era. Onlycovers
released a cover for each club
including the
Sydney FC. On the 25th September 2006 Adam Goodes won
his second Brownlow Medal. Onlycovers released three covers.
Cover1,
Cover2
and
Cover3.
The Swans lost a heartbreak final against the Eagles by 1 point.
The Swans
continued in the eight in 2007 and 2008, finally dropping out in 2009. The
2007 Personalised Stamps
were issued in prestige booklet form while the
2008 Personalised Stamps
and
2009 Personalised Stamps
were issued as folders.