Throughout the final years of the 1990s, AFL clubs across the land looked backward rather than forward, with selectors, historians and superstars converging to name their Teams of the 20th Century.
So, as we near the quarter-time mark of the 21st century, what better time to run the rule on which players are likely to feature when the selectors of tomorrow get together in several decades' time?
While every club has an array of deadset legends that can be called on, we here at Zero Hanger have employed the following rules of selection:
Next up, we head to the Harbour City to separate the Swans' wheat from their chaff.
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2 x All-Australian (2004 and 2005)
1 x premiership player (2005)
188 games, 5.4 marks per game
Despite beginning his lengthy stay in the Harbour City as a forward, Barry would end it as one of the greatest stoppers in Sydney Swans' history.
While the Deniliquin-born utility would muster over 1100 marks across the course of his 15 seasons in red and white, it was his match-saver to deliver the Swans' a drought-breaking flag in 2005 that will be remembered forever.
2 x premiership player (2005 and 2012)
316 games, 18.1 disposals per game, 4.7 tackles per game, 89 Brownlow votes, 0.3 votes per game
Ever-smiling but a fearsome competitor, in the lengthy history of the Sydney-South Melbourne Football Club, no Swan has ever racked up more tackles than Jude Bolton.
Coming complete without frills, the see-ball, hunt-ball operator completed almost 1500 tackles at a rate of better than four-and-a-half per game for 15 seasons.
3 x All-Australian (2013, 2015 and 2016)
1 x Ron Evans Medal (2010)
1 x premiership player (2012)
208 games, 24.4 disposals per game, 106 Brownlow votes, 0.5 votes per game
Right from the get-go, Hannebery was a gun for the Swans, with his Ron Evans Medal the proof in the pudding.
Across the course of a decade in red and white, the midfielder would risk life and limb in the name of a Bloods win, often leaving his body battered and bruised.
While his second footballing chapter at St Kilda would be far from fruitful, Hannebery's time at Moorabbin only acts as evidence of how much of himself he gave to the Swans.
2 x best and fairest (2005 and 2007)
1 x All-Australian (2004)
1 x premiership player (2005)
236 games, 18.6 disposals per game, 81 Brownlow votes, 0.3 votes per game
Since the implementation of the Bloods Culture ahead of the 2003 season, few, if any, have epitomised its ethos more than Brett Kirk.
An Albury native, Kirk grew up supporting the Swans, eventually making the move to the Harbour City and debuting ahead of the millennium. And by the time his playing career had come to a close a decade and change later, the former skipper had made himself into a giant of the club.
Still playing an active role in Sydney's pursuit of another flag, Kirk's legacy is being carried on in red and white, with his son, Indhi, now on the club's list.
2 x best and fairest (2008 and 2013)
1 x All-Australian (2013)
1 x premiership player (2012)
325 games, 19.3 disposals per game, 3.2 tackles per game
As they are wont to do, when one leader steps aside inside the Swans' four walls, another steps up to take the baton and run, with McVeigh picking up exactly where Kirk and company left off.
Uncompromising and operating with a team-first ethos, the native Sydneysider eked everything out of himself across a 14-season career, eventually handing the reigns over to the next generation in due course.
1 x best and fairest (2004)
7 x leading goalkicker (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008)
4 x All-Australian (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010)
1 x premiership player (2005)
162 games, 467 goals, 2.9 goals per game
While prone to a brain fade, or five, fans who saw Hall at full flight will never forget how well the forward married brawn and skill, with fullbacks never sure whether he would hurt them in a literal or a figurative sense.
A deadeye before goal, Hall claimed the first seven loading goalkicking gongs on offer after trading life at Moorabbin for a fresh start at Moore Park.
Although his light may not have shone as bright as 'Plugger' or 'Buddy', Hall performed an admirable role in bridging the connection between each generational spearhead.
3 x best and fairest (2014, 2017 and 2021)
1 x All-Australian (2016)
1 x premiership player (2012)
283 games, 23.5 disposals per game, 152 Brownlow votes, 0.5 votes per game
Hard as nails with a full arsenal of skills, enter a contest with him tentatively and Luke Parker could well cut you in half.
While the Victorian has turned in very few stinkers across his days as a Swan, Parker has saved his best for Sydney's crosstown battles, winning five Brett Kirk Medals in clashes against GWS, accounting for more than 20 per cent of the medallions ever on offer.
3 x best and fairest (2012, 2015 and 2016)
3 x All-Australian (2012, 2014 and 2016)
1 x premiership player (2012)
277 games, 25.8 disposals per game, 146 Brownlow votes, 0.5 votes per game
Despite growing up in Melbourne's leafy east as the latest in a long lineage of Hawthorn royalty, it would take trading Waverley for Moore Park for Kennedy to bloom fully as a footballer.
Hard-nosed, eager, straight-forward and complete without frills, the former Hawk was nigh-on the prototypical Swans footballer, with Kennedy leaving a legacy in the Harbour City just as his grandfather, John Sr., did at Hawthorn.
While the 2012 grand final would see Kennedy and his Swans salute, we're sure the result created more than just a smidgen of bitter-sweetness amongst the wider Kennedy clan that day.
2 x Coleman Medal (2014 and 2017)
7 x leading goalkicker (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022)
4 x All-Australian (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
172 games, 486 goals, 2.8 goals per game, 99 Brownlow votes, 0.6 votes per game
It is no secret that Sydneysiders love a celebrity as much as they love a winner, and in Lance Franklin, the Harbour City had both for a decade.
Inarguably the greatest forward of the century, 'Buddy' completed a second Hall of Fame-worthy career after trading feathers at the end of the 2013 season, bagging more than two-and-a-half goals a game across more than 170 outings.
With the Swans proving so good at honouring their greats, you can expect to see the Western Australian cast in bronze at Moore Park before too long.
2 x Brownlow Medal (2003 and 2006)
3 x best and fairest (2003, 2006 and 2011)
3 x leading goalkicker (2009, 2010 and 2011)
4 x All-Australian (2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011)
2 x premiership player (2005 and 2012)
352 games, 17.4 disposals per game, 445 goals, 1.3 goals per game, 162 Brownlow votes, 0.5 votes per game
With a pair of Brownlows and All-Australians blazers earned across three lines, you would be hard-pressed to name a more versatile footballer than Adam Goodes.
Damaging in so many ways, opponents could never fully prepare themselves for an afternoon trailing the ruckman-cum-forward-cum-midfielder-cum-rebounder.
If the catalogue of Goodes' achievements in the game are of Kosciuszko proportions, then his work since being run out of the game must be measured at Everest heights.