SWANS great Bob Skilton says the AFL should leave the game alone rather than continually look to change the rules.

A statue of the triple Brownlow medallist was unveiled on Thursday afternoon at Lakeside Stadium, where he spent so many years dominating opponents for South Melbourne.

Immortalised in bronze, Skilton said he'd like the rule tinkering to stop and for the AFL to accept that the game was imperfect.

"I wish they'd leave the bloody thing alone," the 79-year-old said.

"There's times when they say the game is crook and when you see all of them in a quarter of the ground but it happens sometimes.

"You look back we played in some shockers and there will probably always be shockers because we don't stereotype the game, they can go where they like.

"I think we've got a great game."

A Hall of Fame Legend and nine-time club champion, Skilton's ceremony was attended by a swag of Swans' greats, both past and present.

They included current skipper Josh Kennedy and coach John Longmire, with Sydney to face Essendon on Friday night.

Created by artist Cathy Weiszmann , the sculpture captured his left foot kick, with Skilton joking it moved about as fast as he did during his 237-game career between 1956 and 1971.

"I just feel so fortunate that people feel the way they do," Skilton said.

"I've always been a little blasé about these kind of things but now it's actually happened it's a bit different and I feel immensely proud."

Skilton was also awarded an Order of Australia Medal in June and said he needed one more thing to cap a memorable year.

"Nothing like a premiership but we'd have to play a bloody lot better than last week," he said.