Paul Kelly is the only candidate for the Swans captaincy

OF all the debate about who should be in the best Swans team of the past 30 years, there can be no argument over who would be the captain.

OF all the debate about who should be in the best Swans team of the past 30 years, there can be no argument over who would be the captain.

Paul Kelly is the standout to lead any Swans team from the Sydney era. Never the most talented or skilful footballer in the team, Kelly the always the most indomitable.

He was the heart and soul of the Swans when the club desperately needed both in an era of great struggle on and off the field.

Vice-captain of the South Melbourne-Sydney Swans team of the century behind the great Bob Skilton, it was fitting Kelly wore Skilton's No.14.

It is fitting too that Kelly is a NSW boy from the Riverina, as are fellow Hall of Famers, former skipper Dennis Carroll and wingman David Murphy, now that the AFL has finally become serious about developing the game in its most neglected state.

Players like Carroll and those who preceded him as leader, Mark Browning and Barry Round, along with dual best and fairest Steve Wright, deserve enormous credit for making the Swans such a modern-day success.

Transplanted from South Melbourne, unloved by the then broke VFL and largely ignored by Sydney, the Swans survived on spirit and little else.

Malcolm Conn’s best Swans  team of the past 30 years.

B: Kennelly, C.Bolton, Bayes

HB: Carroll, Roos, Browning

C: Creswell, G.Williams, Murphy

HF: T.Morwood, Hall, Healy

F: O’Loughlin, Lockett, McVeigh

Foll: Round, Goodes (vc), Kelly (c)

Int: Jolly, Kirk, Wright, J.Bolton

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