Sydney led by four points - 8.10.58 to 7.12.54.

Cox didn’t know how long he had to launch a kick back to the goal square but, up in the coaches’ box, John Worsfold did.

He also knew that if the Eagles were to be a chance, he needed three players to be part of the pack.

He needed his best mark, Ashley Sampi, a man who treated the turf like a trampoline. Yep, he was there.

He needed his tallest overhead marker, Mark Seaby. Yep, he was there.

And he needed the best player on the field; someone who could do anything, anywhere at anytime: Chris Judd. Yep, he was there.

“Right,” Worsfold thought. “We’re a chance.”

What he wasn’t to know was that as Cox smacked the Sherrin skyward, Swans defender Leo Barry also noticed something _ the flight of a football. And, by his calculations, he knew exactly where it would land.

And not only could he make it to the ball, he believed he could actually mark it. While the mentality of his teammates making up the pack was to defend, his was to attack.

“From the sprint out in the pocket the only thought I had was ‘I’ve just got to mark it’,” Barry says. “It was that clear and simple. (Taking a mark) was my first and only thought.”

So he started to run. Arms swinging, eyes staring skyward as he tracked that beautiful ball.

For 25 metres he blazed across the ground, then, with a leap off his left foot he flew through the air.

Having timed his run to perfection, Barry crashed into the pack with his eyes shut, his hands open and his arms stuck above his head as if they’d been set in plaster. And, just as he had alculated, the ball stuck to his hands.

It was the ultimate leap of belief.

Today, after conducting dozens of interviews with many of the people involved, we tell the untold stories of one of Australia’s greatest ever grand finals.

From the nerves of the night before, to the tactics that turned the game, to the personal stories that made some of the players sob on the shoulders of their loved ones.

It was an event that brought together the biggest names of the game - Judd, Cousins, Kirk, Hall - and pushed all of them to their extremes.

September 24 marks 10 years to the day that Leo Barry took his miracle grab and today you can read in forensic details about how that epic encounter unfolded.