Can lightning strike twice in consecutive weeks? Ollie Florent will be hoping so as he celebrates his 25^th birthday against Fremantle in Perth on Saturday.

Florent will be looking to repeat the birthday celebration of Tom Papley last week, when he marked his 27^th birthday with a brilliant four-goal performance to help give coach John Longmire a two-point win over the Western Bulldogs in his 300^th game as Swans coach.

Oddly, Saturday will be the fourth time this year a Swans player has played on his birthday.

Callum Mills played his 138^th game on his 26^th birthday in Round 3 against Melbourne at the MCG, when the Swans were beaten by 50 points, and Lachlan McAndrew played his second game on his 23^rd birthday in Round 11, when they beat Carlton by 26 points at the SCG.

Despite the high game day birthday count this year, it’s not something that historically has happened all that often.

Among the 140 Swans 100-gamers it has happened only 52 times in total, and in 93 Swans finals it has happened only five times.

Lewis Roberts-Thomson has been the king of the September birthday, having played in the 2007 elimination final on his 24^th birthday and in the 2012 qualifying final on his 29^th birthday. He had a loss and a win.

Bob Deas had a win in the 1910 semi-final on his 24^th birthday, Arthur Hiskins lost the 1911 semi-final on his 25^th birthday, and Jim O’Meara celebrated his 25^th birthday with a 1933 semi-final win over Richmond which put them into the grand final a fortnight later, when they beat Richmond again.

In Round 20, 2011 the Swans had a rare double birthday celebration, with Marty Mattner and Ben McGlynn sharing the party against Essendon at Marvel Stadium. It was McGlynn’s 32^nd Swans game and his 76^th game overall on his 26^th birthday, and Mattner’s 87^th Swans game and his 185^th overall on his 29^th birthday. But after leading by 12 points eight minutes from full-time they went down by two points.

Jarrad McVeigh, former captain turned assistant-coach, was a birthday specialist.

He celebrated his 22^nd birthday with a win over Richmond at the MCG in his 60^th game in Round 2, 2007, which was Brett Kirk’s 150^th game. He celebrated his 27^th birthday with a win over Fremantle at the SCG in Round 3, 2012, which was Roberts-Thomson’s 150^th game.

And on his 33^rd birthday McVeigh enjoyed a win over GWS at the SCG in his 303^rd game in Round 3, 2018 to join Michael O’Loughlin in equal third spot on the all-time games list.

Paul Kelly could have been excused for thinking at the start of his career it was an annual thing. He played his 10^th game on his 21^st birthday, sadly copping a 75-point hiding from St Kilda at Moorabbin, and 12 months later, on a big day for the club, he marked his 25^th game with a seven-point win over Richmond at the MCG in Dennis Carroll’s 200^th game.

Kelly also played on his 27^th birthday in 1996, going down to Fremantle in Perth.

Nick Smith is the only other three-time birthday boy among this group, playing on his 22^nd, 23^rd and 28^th birthdays in 2010, ’11 and ‘16 for two wins and a loss.

Back in 1929 Len Thomas played his 39^th game on his 21^st birthday, notching a 13-point win over Melbourne at Lake Oval. Reg Gleeson marked his 21^st birthday in 1971 with a 48-point loss to Hawthorn at Waverley in his 23^rd game, and five years later Graham Teasdale did likewise, enjoying a 39-point win over Collingwood at Waverley on his 21^st birthday in his 24^th Swans game and his 30^th game overall.