When you think of the #14 Swans jumper you immediately go to Bob Skilton and Paul Kelly, captain and vice-captain of the Team of the Century who played a combined 461 games in the red and white #14.

Ask co-captain Callum Mills, who has worn the coveted #14 jumper 128 times, about the history of his number and he’ll recognise 137-game 2012 premiership player Craig Bird and 100-game 1933 premiership player Bill Faul.

After all, like Skilton and Kelly, Bird and Faul are featured along with his own name on the #14 locker at the SCG.

And if you give Mills a moment to do a little homework he might add to the conversation Jack Howell, who wore #14 in the 1918 premiership, and three players who wore #14 in losing grand finals – Dick Mullaly (1912), Harvey Kelly (1914) and Reg Richards (1945).

But there is another Swans #14 who has his own place in club history and is remembered fondly this week following his passing on Saturday night aged 66, Billy Picken.

Recruited from Collingwood in 1984, Picken was arguably the most high-profile 28-game player in Swans history.

One of the game’s most dashing defenders during a wonderful career at Collingwood, Picken was recruited by the Swans as the big marquee signing to help the club on and off the field after they’d finished 11^th on the 12-team ladder in 1983 and were in dire financial trouble.

Picken was the first player allocated the famous #14 jumper after the Swans move to Sydney at a time when the search for heroes in the Harbour City was paramount.

He inherited #14 from Stephen Allender, who had worn it in the club’s last year at Lake Oval in 1981 and the first two years at the SCG in 1982-83.

An All-Australian selection in 1983, Picken shaped as a massive signing for coach Ricky Quade ahead of his third season in charge, having played 207 games with Collingwood from 1974-83 in a career that in 1997 would see him chosen in the Collingwood Team of the Century.

Twice winner of the club best and fairest, twice winner of the AFL Mark of the Year and third in the 1977 Brownlow Medal behind the Swans’ Graham Teasdale, Picken played in five grand finals for four wins and the 1977 draw alongside former Swans CEO and current board member Andrew Ireland.

Things started nicely for Picken in red and white when, after a loss to defending premiers Hawthorn at Princes Park in Round 1, the Swans beat Melbourne at the SCG, St Kilda at Moorabbin and Collingwood on his old stomping ground at Victoria Park in Rounds 2-3-4 to sit fifth on the ladder.

Sadly, injury intervened. Picken was sidelined three separate times and played only 15 games in a season in which Quade stood down due to ill health and was replaced initially by Chairman of Selectors Tony Franklin, who ironically had worn #14 for the Swans through his 32-game career in 1974-75, and later Bob Hammond.

So, when Picken played his 16^th game for Sydney against Collingwood in Round 5 the following year, having missed Rounds 1-4 through injury, he did so under his fourth different Sydney coach – John Northey.

He then missed Rounds 6-10 and even though he played the last 12 games of the 1985 season his time in Sydney was up. He returned to Collingwood as Reserves captain-coach in 1986 while playing a further five AFL games.

Still, the hugely popular Picken, noted for his on-field commentary while playing and often described as “a good player and an even better bloke”, squeezed plenty of memorable moments into his 28-game Swans career.

After sharing his first Sydney game with fellow Swans newcomer Craig Holden and AFL debutants Arthur Chilcott and Paul Hawke, he also played in the first Sydney game of Michael Davis and the AFL debut of Patrick Foy, Tony Hughes, David Murphy, Barry Mitchell and Craig Potter in 1984.

In 1985 he shared the first Sydney game of John Favier and Lindsay Sneddon, and the AFL debut of Rudy Yonsen, Robert Saggers and Anthony Sinclair.

Plus, there were a host of milestones. In 1984 he helped celebrate Rod Carter’s 100^th Sydney game, and in 1985 it was Mark Browning’s 200^th, Tony Morwood’s 150^th, Carter’s 200^th AFL game, the 328^th and last AFL game of Barry Round, and Sydney’s last game under coach Northey.

Only once did Picken figure in Brownlow Medal voting in Swans colours – in a loss to North Melbourne at the SCG in Round 19, 1985, when the home side, 10^th on the ladder five spots below the Kangaroos, led by 23 points at halftime and 16 points at three-quarter time.

They kicked 1.8 in the final quarter to lose 12.22 (94) to North’s 14.15 (99) in the club’s first game at the SCG under new owner Dr. Geoffrey Edelsten.

Picken’s 28 possessions in defence, his highest tally for the Swans, earned him two votes in a rare game in which the losing side received all six votes. David Murphy polled his first three-voter in his 20^th game, while Mark Bayes polled for the first time in his 15^th game with one vote. 

Originally from Macarthur in western Victoria, Picken also played first-grade cricket in Melbourne for Collingwood and had the dubious honour of being the first first-grade player suspended by the Victorian Cricket Association for striking an opponent during a match.

But he was first and foremost a football man from a big football family. Older son Marcus played 25 games with Brisbane from 1999-2001 and spent 2002-03 at the Western Bulldogs without a senior opportunity, while younger son Liam forged a wonderful 198-game career with the Bulldogs that included a starring role in the 2016 premiership before he was forced into early retirement due to concussion. Picken was also the uncle of ex-Brisbane champion Jonathan Brown.

The Sydney Swans extend our condolences to Billy Picken’s family, especially his wife Julie and sons Marcus, Liam, and Sean.