When Matt Wallin's team last lost a game, the world hadn't heard of COVID-19, Donald Trump was just a businessman, Muhammad Ali was still alive and a woman had never ridden the winner of the Melbourne Cup.
The tale of the Yeppoon Swans — a ragtag group of amateur footballers spearheading the rise of Aussie Rules in rugby league heartland — has been heralded as one of the "great footy stories".
Their winning streak spans six years, three prime ministers, two coaches and multiple players — and is the longest in Aussie Rules history by 22 games.
But watching the Swans train in the lead up to their 100th win, you wouldn't pick it.
They sprint back and forth through a series of cones in shirts versus skins passing drills, then double over gasping for breath only to start again a minute later.
They take turns kicking goals from 30 metres out as the rest of the team screams to distract them — a miss is met with a walk of shame to retrieve the Sherrin and try it all over again.
There is no complacency, no arrogance. This does not seem like a team that has won 99 on the trot … let alone one training for what should be a gimme victory against the bottom of the ladder team at home.
"It's a Swans' method … being ruthless, putting in effort but showing respect is what we want to be renowned for," coach and player Christian Burgess said after the team claimed their milestone win.
He gestures toward the sea of red-and-white Swans jerseys that surround the pitch as the key to success.
The Immortals
Swans captain Matt Wallin claims to be a normal bloke but on the footy field he is invincible — a titan who has captained the team through all 100 wins.
Swan Park is his Olympus.
Stamped in red letters on the clubhouse is "Home of the Swans", and the A-grade side laid that claim with authority in their 273-6 win over Gladstone A-Grade.
Nine months ago, while Wallin's father, Mark, was coaching the team, they claimed the record of the longest winning streak from South Australia's Healthfield-Aldgate; the weekend's victory made them the proud owners of the code's first triple-digit winning streak.
Ask AFL Queensland chief executive Trish Squires and she will tell you it's one of the great footy stories.
But not because of the victories or the records that Queensland has now taken from the Aussie Rules homeland.
"It's more about the community connection," Ms Squires says.
"People are very connected into the Swans and it's part of the community."
There's living proof in the grandstands of Swan Park — in the older men wearing vintage shirts who tell stories of how they played hundreds of games for the Swans in the 90s and in the newborn bubs in miniature jerseys who stare at them.
"Footy or not, it's one of those places that whether you're here in the crowd or playing or a kid or a mum or a girlfriend everyone gathers around," former coach Mark Wallin says.
A bright future
When asked about the Swans' historic 100th win, Burgess — who took the Swans reins from Mark Wallin earlier this year — says he's "incredibly proud" but prouder again of the Swans culture.
"A loss is inevitable; it's going to come," he says.
"That's the culture that's being created here and it's spreading to outside our club and the community and AFL Capricornia and beyond."
AFL Capricornia saw a 22 per cent increase in participation in its junior footy program, Auskick, this year. Across the state, participation jumped by a record-breaking 13 per cent.
"Friday night we get 100 kids here in the under sevens, under nines and under 11s," Mark Wallin says.
"That's because the side's good, the club's good, and we've got such a great little community here that backs us.
