It’s not like the year five and six students competing for the Paul Kelly Cup needed any motivation to go through to the state finals, but having four Swans players watching on wouldn’t have hurt.

Barry Hall, Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Malceski and Kristin Thornton attended the Sydney Harbour Final at Centennial Park on May 27.

In wet and cold conditions the Swans players watched Knox and St Michaels vie for a place in September on field one and Mosman and Newington competing for top honours on field two.

In a day that featured some great contests it was the relatively inexperienced Knox team which beat Mosman in the final by 20 points.

Both Knox and Mosman will now progress through to the Paul Kelly Cup state finals on September 14 at Blacktown Olympic Park.

The Paul Kelly Cup, named after the former Swans captain and Brownlow medallist, is the largest AFL primary school competition in the state. In 2009, over 10,000 participants took to the field in what has been another successful event.

The same competition has helped draw players like Kieren Jack to the game when encouraged to take part for his school.

For Kristin Thornton, who made his senior debut in 2009, he can vividly recall the days when he was playing in similar competitions in his home state.

“I used to play in school comps like this back in Western Australia, it keeps the reality of where you used to come from,” Thornton said.

“You’ve got to start somewhere and hopefully someday we will see some of these kids playing in the Swans or in the AFL somewhere.”

And there were a few players from the Cup which stood out to the Swans midfielder.

“They’re probably a bit better than me,” he joked. “From what I’ve seen so far everyone’s having a real go and some of the skills are really good as well.

“It’s a bit wet at the moment which doesn’t help but they’re playing some good footy.”

Prior to the first bounce of the semi-final, the Swans players told their stories of how they went from playing at school to becoming professional AFL footballers.

One interesting tale was Jarrad McVeigh who can recall being the only person who actually played AFL from his school.

Following a question and answer sessions, kids got the opportunity to think with their heads (literally) and get some autographs signed. Barry Hall’s pen was the most sought after as a few participants got their foreheads signed by the Swans leading goal kicker for the past seven years.