The Saints went into this match without injured trio Aaron Hamill, Sam Fisher and Justin Koschitzke. Sydney opened the game strongly, but once the Saints lifted their effort they took the lead and steadily built upon it. With the Saints on the verge of putting the game out of reach they were unable to match Sydney's endurance In the final quarter as the Swans blew the game out of reach by kicking seven unanswered goals to progress through to the 2005 AFL Grand Final in front of 73,344 people.