Australia's indigenous football code took on a spectacular international hue on Sunday as Sydney downed North Melbourne by six points in an Etihad Stadium epic.
The hero for the Swans was Kenyan-born Aliir Aliir who snuck foward to kick his first-ever AFL goal in the dying stages and seal the 16.8 (104) to 15.8 (98) victory.
Aliir had spent most of the day in defence, engaged in a thrilling one-on-one heavyweight duel with North Melbourne's Majak Daw, the first AFL player of Sudanese descent.
For good measure, Colin O'Riordan, formerly of County Tipperary, made an assured AFL debut for the Swans.
Lance Franklin also became only the ninth player in VFL/AFL history to reach the 900-goal barrier.
But the standout storyline was provided by Aliir and Daw.
"There is no doubt it has to be an appealing element to our game," said victorious coach John Longmire.
"Those guys bring a new excitement to our game, to our sport.
"It was a ripping game of football.
"I would assume if you're sitting out the back watching and you see a couple of guys like that play well and contribute and show their skills it should be a great thing for anyone to look at, of any nationality."
North Melbourne coach Brad Scott was full of praise for the oft-maligned Daw - who booted four goals as a key forward having spent much of the season to date as a backman.
"It's not just his performance, it;s the way he's evolved his game in all the fundamentals of AFL footy," said Scott.
"He's improved in every aspect.
"The biggest challenge for him is to be able to respond to the call to play as a multi-positional player - whether it's ruck, whether it's forward, whether it's back.
"That's hard for the seasoned veterans and the superstars to be able to do all that."
Daw formed part of a potent three-pronged Kangaroos attack alongside skipper Jack Ziebell (five goals) and Coleman Medal pacesetter Ben Brown (four).
Rookie sensation Ben Ronke kicked five goals for the Swans and Franklin bagged three.
There were 10 lead changes in a match where the margin never exceeded 13 points at any stage.
The win for the fourth-placed Swans was made even more meritorious as they lost skipper Josh Kennedy to back spasms early in the second quarter.
North Melbourne forward Kayne Turner was concussed in the opening few minutes and took no further part in the match.
Franklin kicked back-to-back goals early in the final term to put the Swans 12 points up, only for the Kangaroos to respond with three majors on the trot from Brown, Daw and Ziebell.
But it was the Swans who had the last laugh, with Ronke and Aliir booting the final two goals of the game as they improved their win-loss record to 11-5.
