Wagga's Paul Kelly reflects on his three years as Sydney Swans captain under the late Ron Barassi

The Australian rules community is in mourning after Barassi, one of the game's most revered figures, passed away on Saturday aged 87.

Barassi is best remembered by many in NSW for his three-season stint as coach of Sydney Swans from 1993-95.

A six-time VFL premiership player and four-time premiership coach, Barassi was sent to Sydney in the early part of the 1993 season in a bid to save the Swans.

Kelly, who was captain of Sydney for the entirety of Barassi's 59-game reign, says he undoubtedly completed his mission.

"Barrass come up in '93 but about five or six rounds into the season from memory and took over a sinking ship, basically," Kelly recalled.

"I think it was at the end of '92, the presidents of all the clubs and the AFL had a vote whether Sydney should fold or stay. Part of that was that is was privately owned and it went back to a membership base and the AFL took it back over. Then Ron Joseph was appointed and Barass was part of the AFL commitment to Sydney.

"For us at the time, we were down and out. Bottom of the ladder already that year, the year before and the next one. We couldn't attract players, had 7000 or 8000 people at the ground and I think we were buying a page in the paper just to get some coverage.

"That's how dire we were. And we just needed an injection of something and I would say that every person in Sydney or NSW that didn't know anything about AFL knew of Ron Barassi so he was perfect for us."

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Barassi had been out of coaching for eight years before his Sydney sojourn. Kelly said Barassi was well aware that he might not have been up with the latest trends in the game, but his solid foundations ensured the club got back on the right path.

"He had been out of coaching for a few years and I think admitted himself that he wasn't right up to speed with that but he came anyway, for the good of the game and just because he was a really fierce competitor," Kelly said.

"He just had a will to win, not at all costs though. He had to do it fairly, remain respectful and humble and all of those things. He was a bloke and that's what he stood for. Simple things but really staunch on them.

"He was the start of good things to come for our footy club. Really, if he hung around, we would have still made the grand final, you'd think, and that would have been a great story.

"He came for three years. He came in during that 1993 season when it was 21, 22, 23, whatever it was, losses in a row. And he was the coach when we beat Melbourne up there and had our first win in 26 rounds or so. That was good.

"Then the next year, we won four games, I reckon. Then in '95, we won about eight games and beat Collingwood to knock them out of the finals and our twos played in the reserves.

"We started to get things rolling."

Barassi retired at the end of 1995 and was part of the selection panel that appointed Rodney Eade, who guided the club to the 1996 grand final against North Melbourne - the Swans' first in 51 years.

The rest for Sydney, is history and Kelly has no doubt the club would not be where they are now had Barassi not come on board.

"It coincided with the appointment of Ron Joseph and the AFL really started to back us a bit, understanding to have a national competition we needed Sydney," he said.

"It was going nowhere. He certainly for my footy club he was the saviour. He got the ball rolling."

Kelly loved Barassi's coaching style. He said it wasn't for all, but he loved his direct approach to footy and life.

"He was really good straight shooter, he would tell you exactly how it is," Kelly said.

"He was probably a little bit more old school and some of the younger blokes didn't like it that much, whereas I loved it. He just told you exactly where you were at."

Kelly had not long been appointed captain when Barassi arrived. He admitted that Barassi did question whether he was the right man for the job.

"I think I got appointed captain maybe halfway through '92 when Dennis Carroll retired so I was pretty fresh, really I'm 23-years-old and Barrass is probably thinking who is this kid and why is he captain!" Kelly said with a laugh.

"So we did have a bit of a talk about do you want to stay captain and whatever. He was just a really honest bloke and stood by his word.

"His competitiveness and will to get better, as well, he couldn't understand blokes that weren't trying hard. We were the same sort of blokes."

Kelly won the Brownlow Medal in 1995, Barassi's last season in charge.

"I suppose he gave me some freedom but he would have given me some direction as well," he said.

"I wasn't doing what I wanted to do out there but he certainly gave me a long lead, knowing he was fully backing me up."

While Barassi had been battling dementia for a long time, Kelly said he enjoyed a good catch up with Barassi in Wagga in recent years.

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