It is a very good AFL career that lasts 10 or 12 years. Even more so 13, 14, 15 and 16. But 17 years? It’s a mix between extraordinary resilience, torturous commitment and total dedication. And something very, very special.

Jarrad McVeigh’s re-commitment to the Swans on Thursday for a 17^th season in 2019 puts him in rare company.

Among the 1416 players in South Melbourne/Sydney history only Adam Goodes has spent longer in the red and white.

Drafted in 1997, Goodes had 18 years on the Swans list and played 17 AFL seasons from 1999-2015.

Also in the ‘how long did they play?’ discussion in the days prior to the draft is former Swans games record-holder, John Rantall.

He played 18 seasons in the AFL but only 14 for the Swans. He had three years at North Melbourne mid-career and finished with one year at Fitzroy.

Similarly, Barry Round played 17 years in the AFL but his first seven were at Footscray, and Rod Carter played 17 years but his first six were at Fitzroy.

Bob Skilton was a Swans player for 16 years from 1956 to 1971 – he played 15 years and missed the entire 1969 season through injury.

Mark Tandy played 15 years from 1911 to 1926 and sat out 1916 when South Melbourne did not play due to the First World War.

Ron Clegg played 15 years from 1945 to 1960 and missed the 1955 season when he accepted a captain-coach job in Albury.

Others to play 15 seasons for the Swans have been Jim Cleary (1934-1948), Jack Graham (1935-1949), Michael O’Loughlin (1995-2009, Leo Barry (1995-2009), Jude Bolton (1999-2013) and Ryan O’Keefe (2000-2014).

Bob Pratt was 17 years between his first game in 1939 and his last game in 1946, but he had two years with VFA club Coburg (1940-1941) and four years in the air force (1942-1945) before his one-game comeback in 1946.

Among others in the Swans ‘family’ to feature in the longevity discussion, Stuart Maxfield played a total of 16 AFL seasons (10 at Sydney and six at Richmond). Barry Hall played 16 seasons (eight at Sydney, six at St Kilda and two at the Western Bulldogs), and Ted Richards played 15 seasons (11 at Sydney, four at Essendon).

McVeigh is third on the Swans all-time games list at 318, behind only Goodes (372) and Jude Bolton (325) and is in a position to go past Bolton next year.

It seems like an eternity since McVeigh was drafted by the Swans with selection No. 5 in the 2002 AFL National Draft – because it is.

Only Brendon Goddard, Daniel Wells and Kade Simpson, taken at selections one, two and 45 in the same draft, have endured the same time in the AFL as McVeigh.

Despite spending his first season at the club in the Reserves, 33-year-old McVeigh has played more games than Simpson (307) and Wells (257), and after Essendon’s decision not to re-contract Goddard for 2019 he is poised to go past him next year.

Since McVeigh first walked into the SCG dressing rooms as a listed Swans player the Club has debuted no less than 98 players – 97 plus the young lad from the Central Coast of NSW who shared with Northern Territory’s Raphael Clark the best player medal at the 2001 Australian Under-16 Championships and set records for the beep test and the 3km time-trial at the 2002 Draft Camp.

When McVeigh made his AFL debut on 27 March, 2004, against Brisbane at the Gabba, current Swans teammates Tom McCartin and Ryley Stoddard were four. Ollie Florent and Will Hayward were five, and Ben Ronke and Callum Mills were six.

On debut, McVeigh had 12 disposals and kicked a goal as Brisbane, coming off three premierships in a row, won by two points after Jason Ball missed a late 35 metre shot to win the game for the Swans.

Paul Williams had 27 disposals and a goal in the losing side to earn three Brownlow Medal votes while Goodes’ 24 disposals and a goal was worth one vote and Simon Black’s 27 disposals and a goal for the Lions earned him two votes.

No other player from either side in McVeigh’s debut is still playing in the AFL. And Paul Bevan, who shared his debut with McVeigh, retired seven years ago after a 129-game Swans career that included the 2005 premiership.

While McVeigh has played under only two AFL coaches – Paul Roos and John Longmire – he has played through seven different NSW premiers. He started under Bob Carr and has outlasted Morris Iemma, Nathan Rees, Kristina Keneally, Barry O’Farrell and Mike Baird before incumbent Gladys Berejiklian.

When he started playing John Howard was Prime Minister. He saw off Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, who a month before McVeigh’s debut won pre-selection for the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

At the time of McVeigh’s first game new Prime Minister Scott Morrison was Managing Director of Tourism Australia and was three years short of entering Federal Parliament.

Also in 2004, young Tasmanian Mary Donaldson married Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark, and Jennifer Hawkins was named Miss Universe.

And swimmers Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Jodie Henry and Petria Thomas, cyclists Ryan Bayley, Anna Meares and Sara Carrigan, shooter Suzanne Balogh and diver Chantelle Newbery led Australia’s individual gold medal charge at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

And who was the last player to wear the No. 3 Swans guernsey before McVeigh? Not Gerard Healy (1984-1990) or Dale Lewis (1991-2000). It was Nick Daffy – he played one game for the Swans in 2002 after moving from Richmond.