NSW Champions of Sport ceremony will see Sydney Swans great Paul Kelly elevated to legend status

Sydney Swans AFL great, Paul Kelly, will be officially recognised as a Legend of NSW Sport at the upcoming NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony.

Kelly, considered one of the best AFL players of the mid-1990s, becomes the 25th NSW athlete and the first AFL player to be elevated to NSW Legend Status.

As a NSW Hall of Champions Legend, Kelly joins the company of Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Brabham, Dawn Fraser, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Ken Rosewall and Louise Sauvage and others in the highest echelon of NSW sport.

From NSW’s Riverina district, Kelly played as a junior with the Wagga Tigers, where he quickly graduated to senior ranks, winning the club's Best and Fairest Award in 1989.

Selected for the Sydney Swans in 1990, the midfielder played 234 games and kicked 200 goals until his retirement in 2002. He was named Sydney Swans Best and Fairest player four times and chosen in the All-Australian side for three successive years from 1995 to 1997.

Appointed captain in 1993, Kelly led the Swans through four Finals series between 1996 and 1999 and remains the club’s longest serving captain. Nicknamed ‘Captain Courageous’, he was voted by his peers as the Most Courageous Player a record five times and was twice named All-Australian captain.

Noted for his explosive speed, strong marking and fierce tackling, Kelly’s greatest individual honour came in 1995 winning the Brownlow Medal, awarded to the Best and Fairest player in the AFL national competition.

His legacy continues with the Paul Kelly Cup, the largest AFL primary school competition in NSW and the ACT. The Player’s Tunnel at the Sydney Cricket Ground is named The Paul Kelly Race in his honour.

Kelly was named on the Swans Team of the Century, inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2007, and made a Legend of the NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2024.

NSW Hall of Champions
Being held at The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont, on Monday 25th November, the Awards ceremony will also celebrate five NSW sports greats inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions: Suzy Batkovic (basketball), Alex Blackwell (cricket), Murray Braund (surf lifesaving), Pattie Dench (sport pistol) and Tim Gavin (rugby union).

NSW Hall of Champions Committee Chair, Alan Whelpton AO, said the elevation of Kelly to Legend status and the accomplishments of the five inductees during their distinguished careers earned them worthy selection, commenting “Paul enjoyed a remarkable career with the Sydney Swans and his legacy proudly lives on through the Paul Kelly Cup.

“The five new inductees Suzy Batkovic, Alex Blackwell, Murray Braund, Pattie Dench and Tim Gavin reached the pinnacle in their chosen sport and paved the way for the next generation of athletes to aspire to reach greatness.”

The gala Ceremony dinner will also celebrate the achievements of NSW athletes, coaches, administrators, and organisations across 12 Award-winning categories including Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Year with a Disability.

The five inductees to the Hall of Champions are:

Suzy Batkovic - basketball
With three Olympic Games medals, a FIBA World Championship bronze, three International Player of the Year Awards and all-time leading scorer in the WNBL, Batkovic is one of Australia’s greatest women’s basketball players.

Alex Blackwell - cricket
In an international career spanning 15 years, Alex Blackwell played 251 matches for Australia across Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 formats.

Australia’s 17th women’s Test captain, and the first Australian woman to play over 200 international matches, Alex scored more than 5,000 runs, won five World Cups and captained Australia to their first T20 World Cup victory in 2010.

Murray Braund - surf lifesaving
In a career spanning 1969 to the mid-1980s, Murray Braund is considered the best surf ski paddler of his generation, with victories in three World, seven Australian and 13 New South Wales Championships.

In 1972/73, Murray became the first competitor in Australian Championships to win both the Open Single and Double Surf Ski titles at the same championship. He claimed both these titles again the following year. He won the Single Ski Teams event in South Africa with Ken Vidler at the inaugural World Life Saving Championships in 1974.

Pattie Dench - sports pistol
Pattie Dench dominated Pistol Shooting in Australia from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.

She won Australia’s first Olympic Games medal in Shooting when claiming the bronze in Sports Pistol at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. She has also won three silver World Championship medals, considered the peak competition for shooters.

Her achievements are remarkable considering she only started shooting at age 42 in 1974.

Tim Gavin - rugby union
Tim Gavin was considered one of the best number eights in world rugby during his eight years with the Wallabies. He played 76 times for the Wallabies - including 47 Tests, between 1988 and 1996.

He played in the historic 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, attended by Nelson Mandela. In the Australian off-seasons he played for Milan in Italy between 1992 and 1995 and was in the inaugural Tri-Nations Series in 1996.

The NSW Hall of Champions is located at Quaycentre at Sydney Olympic Park.

Click here for tickets to the ceremony.

Images: Paul Kelly playing for the Sydney Swans. Credit: Prism Communications.