It would be a fair side that had a goal-to-goal line of Roberts-Thomson, Blakey, Heeney, Reid and O’Loughlin, and a starting on-ball division of Goodes, Bolton and Hannebery … so here it is.
“It” is the Sydney Swans Rising Star All-Stars, notionally chosen from Swans players who, since the inception of this coveted award in 1993, have been among the round-by-round nominations.
The list, which began with Michael O’Loughlin after he kicked four goals in his fourth game in Round 8, 1995, grew to 38 with Matt Roberts’ opening round nomination after his career-best 19 possessions in last Thursday’s SCG win over Melbourne.
It includes Rising Star winners Adam Goodes (1999) and Callum Mills (2016), Goodes’ 2012 premiership teammates Jude Bolton, Kieren Jack, Sam Reid, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, and 13 current players.
Among the current players is the Swans’ only dual Rising Star nominee – Justin McInerney. He is one of 17 players nominated in consecutive seasons after meeting eligibility criteria.
The notional Swans Rising Stars All-Stars team, with their year of nomination, is:
B: Jared Crouch (1998), Lewis Roberts-Thomson (2003), Lewis Melican (2017)
HB: Tadhg Kennelly (2002), Nick Blakey (2019), Callum Mills (2016)
C: Ollie Florent (2018), Isaac Heeney (2015), Jake Lloyd (2014)
HF: Kieren Jack (2008), Sam Reid (2011), Will Hayward (2017)
F: Paul Bevan (2004), Michael O’Loughlin (1995), Tom Papley (2016)
R: Adam Goodes (1999), Jude Bolton (2000), Dan Hannebery (2010)
INT: Ben Mathews (1999), Harry Cunningham (2014), Chad Warner (2021), Justin McInerney (2020-21), Errol Gulden (2021).
Interestingly, eight of the Swans’ first 20 Rising Star nominations later played elsewhere. Accordingly, they were discounted from selection in the notional All-Stars.
They were Justin Crawford (1995), Shannon Grant (1996), Stefan Carey and Troy Cook (1997), Jason Saddington (1998), Adam Schneider (2003), Jesse White (2009) and Tom Mitchell (2013).
Other Swans Rising Star nominees have been Daniel McPherson (1996), Ben Ronke (2018), Braeden Campbell (2021), Logan McDonald (2022), Angus Sheldrick (2023) and Roberts (2024).
The Swans are 10th on the Rising Star nominations ‘ladder’ with 38, behind Brisbane (50), Melbourne (49), Essendon (47), Hawthorn (45), West Coast (43), Collingwood (41), Fremantle (41), Richmond (41) and Western Bulldogs (40), and ahead of Carlton (37), Port Adelaide (37), Adelaide (35), Geelong (35), North Melbourne (33), St Kilda (32), Gold Coast (23), GWS (23) and Fitzroy (6).
Swans fanatics will question how three current senior players missed out on Rising Star nomination – Luke Parker, Tom McCartin and James Rowbottom. Dane Rampe is another notable absentee but he was beyond the minimum age limit when he debuted at 22.
