Remember the dreaded green vest? The unmissable lime green top used by the AFL from 2011-15 to identify each team’s game day substitute. They would start on the bench beside three interchange players and would only remove the green vest when injected into the game.
Jake Lloyd will remember it well because he wore it in his debut in Round 5, 2014.
Lloyd was 20 years 211 days old and in his first season on the senior playing list after starting as a rookie in 2013, winning a NEAFL premiership and selection in the NEAFL Team of the Year.
In Round 4 the Swans had lost by 43 points to North Melbourne at the SCG. Coach John Longmire, desperate for a response from the 13th-placed Swans against 5th-placed Fremantle at the SCG, lost Tom Mitchell to a nasty ankle injury and dropped Ryan O’Keefe and Gary Rohan. He included Craig Bird, Brandon Jack and Lloyd.
Lloyd wore the green vest until late in the third quarter when Longmire subbed out Jack to give the young boy from Horsham in jumper #44 his chance. He played 25 per cent game time as the Swans won by 17 points for three kicks and one handball.
Lloyd again shed the dreaded vest in Round 6 against Melbourne at the MCG, collecting 14 possessions in a 31-point win, and showed real promise with 29 touches and his first goal in a 79-point hammering of Brisbane at the Gabba in Round 7.
Who would have thought from such humble beginnings that Lloyd would go on to become a dual Club Champion and now the 10th player in Swans history to reach 5000 possessions, as he did with 21 in the disappointing loss to Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
Aged 29 years 194 days in his 203rd game, Lloyd was second quickest and fourth youngest in club history to 5000. Only Josh Kennedy (185 games) was quicker, and only Dan Hannebery (27 years 169 days), Kennedy (28 years 65 days) and Luke Parker (28 years 181 days) were younger.
The Sydney Swans’ top 10 possession list is:
1: 7137, Josh Kennedy
2: 6390, Adam Goodes
3: 6264, Jarrad McVeigh
4: 6183, Luke Parker
5: 5831, Jude Bolton
6: 5601, Daryn Cresswell
7: 5154, Ryan O’Keefe
8: 5069, Dan Hannebery
9: 5029, Kieren Jack
10: 5008, Jake Lloyd
Lloyd is the 165th player in AFL history to 5000 possessions since statistics began in 1965 after Essendon’s Zach Merrett was 163rd in Round 2 and North Melbourne’s Ben Cunnington 164th on Saturday.
Lloyd is also the 22nd quickest to 5000 possessions. Ironically, this list is headed by Tom Mitchell, whose injury nine years ago helped give Lloyd his AFL debut. Mitchell reached 5000 in his 170th game when still at Hawthorn in Round 22 last year.
Only two ex-rookies have been quicker to 5000 than Lloyd – Adelaide’s Rory Laird (190 games) and West Coast’s Matt Priddis (192).
One-time Swan Greg Williams was third quickest to 5000 possessions (178 games), and Kennedy, who played 13 games at Hawthorn before joining the Swans, was equal 11th (191 games).
The quickest 22 players in AFL history to 5000 possessions, with games taken to reach this milestone, are:
170 – Tom Mitchell (Syd/Haw)
176 – Jack Macrae (WB)
178 – Greg Williams (Geel/Syd/Carl)
179 – Adam Treloar (GWS/Coll/WB)
186 – Zach Merrett (Ess)
187 – Lachie Neale (Frem/Bris)
188 – Robert Harvey (StK)
189 – Andrew Gaff (WC)
190 – Garry Wilson (Fitz), Rory Laird (Adel)
191 – Josh Kennedy (Haw/Syd), Dane Swan (Coll)
192 – Wayne Richardson (Coll), Tom Rockliff (Bris/Port), Matt Priddis (WC)
194 – Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
196 – Ollie Wines (Port)
197 – Nathan Fyfe (Frem)
198 – Dustin Martin (Rich)
199 – Terry Wallace (Haw/Rich/WB)
201 – John Murphy (Fitz)
203 – Jake Lloyd (Syd)
